Beas River Tragedy: KCR announces Rs 5 lakh ex-gratia

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Saturday announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 5 lakh each to the families of those killed in Beas River tragedy in Himachal Pradesh.

Moving a resolution condoling the death of 24 students in the tragedy, KCR informed that he was in the cabinet meeting on June 8 when he was informed about the missing of 24 students in Beas River which include 18 boys and six girls. "I immediately directed Home Minister Nayani Narasimha Reddy to rush to the spot in Himachal Pradesh along with Disaster Management Commissioner B R Meena and Grey Hounds SP Karthikeyan," he said adding that he immediately spoke to Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Veerabhadra Singh requesting him to take immediate relief measures.

Listing out various measures that were taken to handle the situation, he informed the House that so far only eight bodies were recovered and identified. He said efforts were still on to search the remaining bodies in Beas River. "The administration is closely monitoring the situation in coordination with Himachal Pradesh Government and our Home Minister is camping there along with senior officers and support staff," he said.

The Assembly also observed a two-minute silence to mourn the death of students.