Nearly a year after Himachal's monsoon disaster, Beru village is still waiting for relief

This article was originally published in 101 Reporter under Creative Common license. Read the original article.

By Surinder Kumar

Mandi, Himachal Pradesh: Nearly a year after flash floods and landslides ravaged Beru village in Himachal Pradesh's Mandi district, 65-year-old Kunti Devi said that she is still waiting for financial assistance to repair her damaged home.

As darkness falls each evening, her 30-year-old daughter, Kalpana Thakur, braced for another sleepless night. The doors and windows of their house were destroyed in last year's monsoon disaster, leaving the two women exposed.

"I keep thinking someone will break in," Thakur said.

Nearly a year after the disaster, residents of Beru village in Mandi district say many affected families are still waiting for their homes to be assessed and for disaster relief to reach them. While the Himachal Pradesh government has announced funds for rehabilitation, several villagers say they remain outside the relief process.

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Beru still waits

Beru village is located in Mandi district, which bore the brunt of Himachal Pradesh's 2025 monsoon. According to the India Meteorological Department, the district received 1,910.5 mm of rainfall between June and September 2025 — 76% above normal, the highest in the state. Cloudbursts, landslides and flash floods damaged thousands of houses and washed away roads, bridges and agricultural land.

According to the State Disaster Management Authority's Memorandum of Damages report, Mandi reported 2,439 damaged houses and 67 deaths, the highest in Himachal Pradesh. Thirty people remained unaccounted for. Across the state, the estimated losses stood at Rs 5,909.3 crore.

Residents of Beru say the impact is still visible. Several families claim they are yet to receive disaster relief or have their homes assessed by revenue officials. Thakur said that after repeatedly approaching local officials without success, she emailed the Mandi deputy commissioner seeking help. She received an acknowledgement, but said no action followed. When she later visited the SDM office, an official told her there was no budget available for relief, she alleged.

Unfinished promise

Devi has lived alone with her daughter since her husband, Shakti Chand, died when Thakur was three years old. She said she received Rs 1.5 lakh under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Gramin) to build a one-room house. But before it could be completed, the 2025 monsoon damaged the structure, leaving cracks in the walls.

She said the lack of a motorable road to Beru significantly increased construction costs. More than half the money, she claimed, was spent on transporting building materials to the village.

"How can a house be completed where there's no road?" she asked. "The amount that would build a complete room elsewhere is spent here just on transportation."

Devi said she survives on an old-age pension of Rs 1,500 a month and cannot afford to complete the house on her own. Without doors and windows, she and her daughter continue to live in an unfinished structure nearly a year after the disaster.

Hardev Singh, secretary of Thauna panchayat, confirmed that Kunti received Rs 1.5 lakh under PMAY-G in three instalments between January 2024 and March 2025.

Devi said she repeatedly approached the local patwari to inspect the damaged house. She visited the Patwar Circle office and also contacted the patwari over the phone, requesting a site visit, but said no inspection took place for months. According to Thakur, it was only after this correspondent raised the issue with Revenue Minister Jagat Singh Negi that the patwari and the kanungo visited the house later the same day. Patwari Harish Sharma said he has since submitted the spot inspection report to the tehsil office.

Others are still waiting

Devi's experience is not unique, residents said. Praveen Kumar, 39, said he and his younger brother, Simpal, had spent around Rs 5 lakh building a house with three rooms, a kitchen and a bathroom before the 2025 monsoon destroyed it.

The brothers had pooled their savings over several years, while their father, Chamru Ram, who works at a lodging house in Punjab, also contributed to the construction. After the disaster, Kumar informed the village pradhan about the damage, hoping the administration would help.

"To this day, no one from the government or the administration has come to help us," he said. "We are not even aware enough to stand up for our rights. When we visit government offices, we are often intimidated and sent away. Sometimes it feels as though the government does not even consider us human." Suraj Rana also questioned the way his losses were assessed.

He said the house he shared with his wife and thirteen-year-old daughter—a kitchen, a room and a toilet—was damaged in the disaster. According to Rana, the then patwari recommended compensation of only Rs 500.

"When I heard that, the ground slipped beneath my feet," he said. "I even told them, 'Forget it, I don't want the compensation.'"

Unable to continue living in the damaged house, Rana said the family shifted to a makeshift shelter beside a cowshed. He said the living conditions eventually became unbearable for his wife, who left with their daughter.

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Government response

Thakur said she repeatedly approached local officials seeking help. After receiving no response, she emailed the Mandi deputy commissioner. Although she received an acknowledgement, she said no assistance followed.

More than two months later, she visited the SDM office, where an official allegedly told her there was no budget available for relief.

Patwari Harish Sharma said the scale of the 2025 disaster had delayed assessments. "The disaster was very large, so the assessment process took time," he said.

Sharma said he has now submitted the spot inspection report for Kunti Devi's house to the tehsil office.

[AR]

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