By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 22 Jul: Uttarakhand is witnessing heavy rains in many parts of the state since yesterday evening. The rains continued throughout today, and this has led to landslides and road blockages in many parts of the state and increasing the difficulties for the people. The Meteorological Department has issued a red alert for the next 48 hours in some districts of the state. Among the roads that were blocked due to landslides included the Gangotri National Highway. Others included Kedarnath Highway near Phata, the Bypass Road near Karnaprayag Panchpulia and Kotdwar-Meerut Highway and Yamunotri Highway. It may be recalled that yesterday, 3 pilgrims on their way to Kedarnath temple on foot died and several others injured when boulders started falling on the Kedarnath trek. Since yesterday, at least 44 fresh road blockages were reported till this evening in the state due to landslides.
On the Gangotri Highway, movement of traffic has been severely affected due to the landslide. Gangotri National Highway is blocked due to debris and the boulders near Netala, Bishanpur, near Maneri waterfall. The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) is continuously engaged in the clearance of the road since this morning. Due to heavy and continuous rains, debris and boulders were still falling in Dabarkot at the time of filing this report. JCBs and other equipment have been deployed at the landslide zone by Barkot’s PWD’s NH wing, but the rains and continuously falling boulders have affected the road clearance work, On the other hand, the Bypass Road near Karnaprayag Panchpulia also was closed due to boulders falling from the hill. The traffic movement is totally halted there.
It has been raining continuously in the surrounding areas including Karnaprayag since last night. Vehicles are stranded on both sides of the road and people were waiting for the roads to be cleared of debris.
It has been raining continuously since midnight on the Yamunotri Dham route, particularly in Barkot area and near Ojri.
Due to continuous rains, the Kedarnath highway is reported to have been blocked repeatedly at Khat near Phata. Although the NH department is making efforts to open the highway, but due to the debris and boulders falling continuously from the hill, the department is finding it challenging to continue road clearance and open the highway. Due to the landslide happening below Khat village on the highway, 85 families are reportedly at risk due to nature’s fury. It is raining intermittently in Kedarnath as well. Due to the road closure, the pilgrims as well as the local people are stranded at both ends. The highway which got closed late last night was restored for traffic at 10 a.m., today, but the road again was closed due to debris and boulders continuing to fall from the hill. The Dham is in the grip of dense fog since this morning. Today being the first Monday of the Shravana month, it was an auspicious day for Shiva devotees but in Kedarnath, the weather has played spoilsport.
Since the Kedarnath disaster, there have been continuous landslides under Khat village near the Fata of the Kedarnath highway. The village has come under even more danger due to the highway widening that took place a few days ago. Currently, 85 families live in the village, while there is a primary school as well as a mobile tower right above the place where the landslide is taking place. The villagers have been demanding rehabilitation for a long time, but so far this has not been done. This village comes under severe risk every monsoon but no permanent solution has been worked out.
In addition, the National Highway-534 in Kotdwar of Pauri district was also blocked due to rain. Boulders fell on the Meerut-Pauri National Highway at around 10 a.m. this morning and since then the series of landslides is continuing here. The Highway has been in between opened for traffic but also closed due to falling of boulders and debris. There was a landslide near the Durga Devi temple between Kotdwar to Dugadda on the Meerut-Pauri National Highway, due to which there was a long jam on both sides of the highway. This is the only highway connecting Kotdwar to 15 development blocks of Pauri district.
In the past 24 hours, around 50 routes got closed due to landslides in the state. According to PWD, 54 routes were already closed in the state. While, 61 roads have been cleared of debris and the traffic is stated to have resumed in respect of these roads. The closed routes include two highways, two state road and several main district roads. In addition to these, 33 important rural roads are also stated to be closed and the authorities admit that the problem in rural areas is of greater magnitude.
According to the State Emergency Operation Centre, the water level of Tehri Dam was at 782.44 metres this afternoon. The maximum water level is 830 metres. The Meteorological Centre has issued a red alert for Champawat, Nainital and Udham Singh Nagar districts for next 24 hours. An Orange alert has been issued for most other districts.
