With the entry of monsoon in Uttarakhand, the sequence of rain in Garhwal division continued throughout the day on Sunday. Five thousand pilgrims were stopped at Sonprayag and Gaurikund after 11 am due to heavy rains on the Kedarnath pedestrian route.
The Yamunotri Highway near Orchha Band, which was closed since last night, could be opened after eight hours on Sunday morning. Road closure near Bandarkot on Gangotri Highway continued throughout the day.
Badrinath highway remained closed for four hours:
Apart from this, the road connecting Gangori Nald located on the China border is also closed. The Badrinath Highway was blocked for about four hours due to heavy rains on the hill above Kanchanganga and large stones and debris coming on the road.
On the other hand, 27 link roads are closed in five districts of Garhwal division due to rain. It was cloudy on Sunday morning in Rudraprayag district, but by 11 o’clock it started raining heavily. Due to this, the movement of pilgrims was stopped due to the arrival of Chhauri Gadera on the Kedarnath pedestrian route.
Police force, SDRF, DDRF jawans deployed at foot stops made pilgrims move safely at Chhauri Gadera, Mahadev Fall and other sensitive places. Five thousand pilgrims were stopped at various yatra halts including Sonprayag, Sitapur, Gaurikund, Lincholi. The movement was started on Monday when the weather cleared.
The Yamunotri Highway, which was blocked since Saturday night near Orchha band in Uttarkashi district, could be opened after eight hours. A new landslide zone has been formed here. A large part of the highway is in danger of landslide. The highway has been made smooth for now. If there is no concrete arrangement, the road may be blocked again, due to which the connection between Gangotri-Yamunotri may also be cut off. Along with this, the contact of Purola, Naugaon and Mori blocks of Yamuna valley can also be cut off from the district headquarters.
Lambgaon-Kedarnath road blocked for about three hours:
On the other hand, due to rain, the Lambgaon-Kedarnath road remained blocked near Manpur for about three hours. At present, the road connecting Gangori Nald is also blocked, which the PMGSY Uttarkashi team is working to clear. The Arakot-Chiwan motorway was blocked for seven hours from Sunday morning till evening.
The team of Lonivi Purola has made the route smooth. The Junga-Tarakot and Dhanari Pujargaon motorways are currently blocked. On the other hand, eight highways including two state highways in rural areas were blocked due to rain in Pauri district. Of these, seven routes were opened till evening. Whereas, the Chai Giwali-Raitpur Rural Motorway is still blocked.
District Magistrate Dr. Ashish Chauhan has instructed all the Deputy District Magistrates to keep the disaster control room alert in their respective areas. In Tehri district, the Narendranagar-Ranipokhari road was closed due to debris. Due to this the vehicles coming from Dehradun had to come via Rishikesh. All the guests coming to the G-20 conference held in Narendra Nagar also had to reach the venue by this road.
The Rishikesh-Gangotri highway was also closed for some time due to debris coming near Narendra Nagar on Sunday morning, which was opened at 10 am. Three link roads are closed due to rain in the district. Heavy stones along with debris came on the highway due to rise in the water level of Kanchanganga river near Badrinath in Chamoli district on Sunday evening. There is a queue of vehicles on both sides of the highway. To open the highway on this, BRO started removing debris from two JCBs.
Commander Ankur Mahajan of the Border Roads Organization told that there was a lot of problem due to debris coming during the work. After the hard work of BRO, 700 passengers going to Badrinath were sent forward on the spot by smoothening the route at around 9 pm. On the other hand, the pilgrims returning from Badrinath Dham have been stopped at the Dham itself. Apart from this, the road was blocked for one hour in Lambagad.
Road condition:
District, Highway, Link Road
Pauri, 00, 01
Tehri, 00, 03
Uttarkashi, 00, 04
Rudraprayag, 00, 00
Chamoli, 00, 19
