By Our Staff Reporter
Uttarkashi, 25 Jul: Gangotri Highway has been blocked yet again as debris and boulders continue to fall on the road between Bhatwadi and Gangnani. It was blocked yesterday but was opened for traffic after the clearing of the highway of debris and the boulders after very hard work that lasted more than 12 hours. However, today again the Highway got blocked as the debris and the boulders started falling on the road between Bhatwadi and Gangnani, an area which is considered to be highly vulnerable to landslides.
It may be recalled that landslides have continued through the ongoing Monsoon season on Gangotri Highway. The problem persists on Gangotri Highway. Yesterday morning too, it had to be closed for traffic due to landslide in Bishanpur. As a result of the landslides today, a large number of vehicles are stuck on both sides of the road. Not only this, a large number of Kanwarias who are travelling on foot are also stuck on the highway.
The NDRF team had rescued the Kanwar pilgrims safely by putting ropes between the boulders and debris and then allowing them to cross over. But other Kanwarias are stuck on the Highway between Bhatwadi and Gangnani. Yesterday after 12 hours of hard work, BRO had managed to clear the road of debris and boulders allowing the traffic to resume but this morning the traffic is again affected due to fresh landslides. This area is witnessing heavy rains since Tuesday night leading to landslides in Netala, Bishanpur and Sainj. Today fresh landslide was witnessed in other areas. According to Uttarkashi Administration, BRO and NDRF teams are engaged in clearing the highway but the operation is affected due to continuing falling of boulders and debris.
Meanwhile, in a report coming in from Rudraprayag, landslides and land subsidence have occurred on the Ukhimath-Uniyana motor road. Due to this 7 fishery ponds were covered entirely by debris. This has resulted not only in killing of all the fish in these 7 big fishery ponds, but the farmers owning them also suffered huge estimated loss of more than Rs 23 lakhs. Along with the fisheries ponds, the crops of the farmers have also suffered heavy damage. At the same time, residential buildings of 5 families have come under threat.
The reason for the land subsidence on the Ukhimath-Uniyana motor road is believed to be the lack of drainage for rainwater to escape. Villagers say that if the remaining part of the motor road sinks further, then traffic between Uniana-Ransi may also be disrupted. Apart from this, the 11 KV power line has also come under threat due to the land subsidence on the motor road. At the same time, officials of Revenue Police, Electricity Department and Public Works Department have reached the spot to assess the damage.
