Garhwal Post Bureau
Rudraprayag, 22 Jul: The ongoing spell of intense monsoon rain across Uttarakhand has triggered a series of landslides along the Badrinath Highway, bringing traffic to a halt and leaving thousands of Char Dham pilgrims and local residents stranded without access to food or water. The disruption, which began late last night and continued today, has provoked widespread anguish, with pilgrims expressing frustration at the slow administrative response and inadequate contingency arrangements.
Heavy rainfall in Rudraprayag district since yesterday has severely impacted daily life and further destabilised vulnerable sections of the highway. Long-standing slide-prone zones such as Sirobagad saw renewed activity around 4 a.m. this morning, when a landslide blocked traffic, followed by another closure near Khankra around 9 a.m. While JCB machines were deployed by the National Highway department to clear the debris, continuous rockfall hampered operations. The blockage at Sirobagad was cleared around 9:30 a.m. but Khankra remained inaccessible until this afternoon owing to large boulders that proved difficult to remove with the available equipment.
This double blockade has created immense hardship for residents of Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts and for devotees from across India and abroad undertaking the Char Dham Yatra. Many pilgrims, lacking shelter and basic supplies, have pleaded with the administration to deploy more robust equipment like Poclain machines to landslide-prone zones, arguing that JCBs are insufficient and result in prolonged delays.
The locals have reminded the administration about recurring landslides between Khankra and Dhari Devi, with the fracturing of hillside terrain causing ongoing chaos. A video captured Kanwar pilgrims narrowly escaping injury after a rockfall near Khankra this morning and has gone viral, raising renewed safety concerns.
Local activists have also criticised the prolonged delay in completing the Paprasu-Khankra bypass project, intended to mitigate landslide impacts along the highway, which has been stalled for nearly three years, despite budgetary allocations and planning under central schemes for hill road infrastructure.
District Disaster Management Officer Nandan Singh Rajwar has confirmed the emergence of new landslide zones between Rudraprayag and Srinagar and noted that JCB machines are being used to clear the highway urgently. He appealed to pilgrims to proceed only after confirming weather conditions, though concerns remain about timely updates and ground-level execution.
