Garhwal Post Bureau
Rudraprayag, 31 Jul: A major accident was narrowly avoided today on the world-renowned route to Tungnath, the third Kedar shrine, when a large portion of the hillside suddenly collapsed ahead of Tala on the Kund–Chopta–Gopeshwar National Highway (NH-107A), sending massive boulders crashing onto the road and completely blocking the passage. The incident has led to long queues of vehicles on both sides and has created panic among travellers. The landslide was triggered by heavy rainfall in the area since last evening.
Fortunately, no vehicle or passenger was caught in the fall at the time. The locals assert that many lives were fortunate to have a narrow escape in the incident. A video of the incident, showing huge rocks tumbling down with loud noise and the road being buried under debris within moments, has gone viral on social media. The visuals highlight the grave risks of travelling through mountain roads during the monsoon.
Soon after receiving the information of rockfall and the landslide, teams from the departments concerned, the administration and disaster management reached the spot. With the help of JCB machines, work to clear the debris and boulders from the road has begun on a war footing to restore traffic at the earliest. District Disaster Management Officer Nandan Singh Rajwar shared with the media that the continuous rainfall has triggered landslides and rockfalls at several places in the district. He confirmed that the highway ahead of Tala was blocked due to falling boulders and that teams are engaged in relief and clearance operations. He appealed to travellers to avoid unnecessary journeys until the weather improves and to strictly follow official advisories issued by the administration.
The administration has cautioned that the risk of landslides remains high in the hills due to persistent rainfall. Travellers have been urged to exercise special vigilance, avoid halting vehicles at sensitive spots and immediately inform the administration or disaster control room in case of emergencies.
The recurring activation of landslide zones once again underlines the need for extreme caution while travelling on the hill roads during the monsoon. The pilgrims and tourists heading to Tungnath have also been advised to check the latest weather updates before undertaking the journey.
