By Our Staff Reporter
Uttarkashi, 28 Aug: The state government has claimed that misleading information is being circulated on social media about hundreds of vehicles being trapped under debris in Uttarkashi, which is untrue and baseless. In a statement issued this afternoon, District Magistrate Dr Meherban Singh Bisht has claimed that after the heavy rainfall in the district headquarters, Uttarkashi, and surrounding areas last night, the situation has now become normal and is under control. He also appealed to all concerned not to spread misleading information through social media about the landslide on Varunavat hill in Uttarkashi town.
Dr Bisht claimed that, due to heavy rains in Uttarkashi city area, some two-wheelers parked on the road in Gofiara got stuck in the debris due to overflowing drain water and as a result of some debris coming on the road. However, all of these two wheelers were safely removed. As a precaution, the administration had immediately evacuated the area prone to danger and started work on draining water and cleaning the debris last night itself. He asserted that no vehicle is buried in the debris in this area and there has been no loss of life or property. The DM has also set up a committee of experts to study the ground condition and report the facts to the district administration.
It may be recalled that, last night, due to heavy rainfall at around 11 p.m. in Uttarkashi city and district, the drains and nullahs overflowed, due to which waterlogging was reported at some places in Gufiara, Gyansu, Mainagad, Tekhla, etc. It was also reported that some debris from the drains had spilled on to the road. However, the district administration claims to have taken immediate action and activated the disaster management system. All the officers concerned were immediately summoned to the District Emergency Operation Centre at night and, along with alerting the people of the affected area, full preparations were made to deal with any kind of possible situation.
District Magistrate Dr Bisht held a meeting of officials in the Emergency Operations Centre at night and discussed the strategy and preparations in this regard and ordered deployment of SDRF and administrative teams in the affected area. Along with this, the teams started taking immediate action and alerting the people and sending them to safe places.
Superintendent of Police Arpan Yadav also inspected the affected area at night and appealed to the people to stay in safe places along with alerting them. Taking precautionary measures, the administration evacuated around 50 to 60 families living in the area adjacent and sent them to the premises of Jal Sansthan near Gofiara to safer places and alerted people of all the areas situated in the foothills of Varunavat.
The district magistrate further stated that after the landslide in the area near Gufiara due to heavy rainfall, the debris of the landslide did not reach the populated area as it stopped at the safety railing installed earlier for Varunavat treatment. There has been no loss of life or property in this incident. The administration is continuously monitoring the situation. At present, there is no landslide at this place. The people who were sent to safer places elsewhere as a precaution at night have now returned to their homes and life in the city is normal. Bisht, in view of the safety of life in this area, has constituted a technical committee for a detailed survey of the causes, effects and areas affected by landslides and falling of stones and boulders, The committee of experts includes SDM, Bhatwadi, Deputy Director/Geologist District Task Force Uttarkashi, Executive Engineer, Provincial Division, PWD, Uttarkashi, Executive Engineer, Irrigation Division, Sub Divisional Forest Officer and representative of Nehru Mountaineering Institute, Uttarkashi, Inspector, SDRF, Uttarkashi, Team Leader, NDRF, Uttarkashi and Junior Engineer, District Disaster Management Authority, Uttarkashi. The committee is conducting on-site inspection and survey of the affected area. The district administration has also claimed that traffic movement is smooth on Uttarkashi-Ghansali-Tilwara road including Gangotri road. Traffic was blocked there last night due to debris at some places on these routes and traffic has been restored today morning after clearing the debris. On the other hand, Tekhala-Mahidanda road has been damaged at km 6 and work on its reconstruction is in progress. There is a likelihood of traffic being restored soon on this route.
