Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh will not celebrate his 79th birthday Sunday in view of the natural calamity and deaths in the state and neighbouring Uttarakhand, a statement said here.
"The chief minister has decided not to celebrate his birthday in this hour of grief and sorrow due to natural calamity which struck Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh and neighbouring Uttarakhand," the statement said Saturday.
"The people of the state have sympathies with those affected by this natural calamity and pray for early mitigation of their sufferings," the chief minister said.
Fourteen people are reported to have been killed in Himachal landslides triggered by rains that began last weekend, while in Uttarakhand nearly 600 people have been killed in the devastation.