CM undertakes aerial survey in Kotdwar
By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 11 Aug: Rains continued to disrupt traffic movement at many places across the state even today. At least 4 lives were lost across the state due to landslides or drowning during the past 24 hours. The highway connecting Dehradun to Delhi also sank between Mohand and Daat Kali Temple today. Due to this, long queues of vehicles were seen throughout the day along both sides of the highway.
On the other hand, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami today undertook an aerial survey of Kotdwar area, which is among the most landslide affected areas in the state.
On the Dehradun-Delhi Highway, a portion of the road caved in early this morning near Mohand due to which the traffic movement came to a halt. Soon, long queues of vehicles were seen on both the sides of the sunken portion. Clement Town Police was soon informed about the situation and sent a few police officials. The traffic movement was restored by the Police but the traffic continued to move at snail’s pace. Meanwhile the PWD team also arrived on the spot to start the repair work on the damaged portion of the road.
As per the official records, 133 roads across the state are blocked due to landslides or extensive damage due to excessive rains. Most of the blocked roads are in the hills. Several bridges including one in Kotdwar have also been reported to have collapsed during the current season.
At least 137 persons have died since 1 June during the ongoing Monsoon season, while over 1226 persons have been rescued by the NDRF, SDRF and local administration and the police so far in the season.
Yellow to red alert has been issued across the state for the next three days. Dehradun too continues to receive excessive rainfall this year. In the past 24 hours, Dehradun city has received over 124 mm of rain while several other areas of the district have received even higher rainfall.
After conducting the aerial survey in Kotdwar, Chief Minister Dhami, along with local MLA Kotdwar and Assembly Speaker Ritu Khanduri also conducted a site inspection of the disaster affected areas there.
In Gadighati, he directed the officials to work fast on the approach road going to Kumbhichowd – Ratanpur and, while inspecting Haldukhata – Kishanpur – Sigaddi road on Malan River, he directed the officials to restore connectivity at the earliest. He asked the authorities to restore the disrupted road connectivity at various places on war footing. Instructions were also given to provide immediate relief to the people affected by the disaster at various places.
He said that the drainage of water should be fixed in the waterlogged areas and make sure that fogging and lime sprinkling is done there as per the requirement.
