E-Paper
Badrinath highway closed for traffic due to landslide in Chamoli district
At Kedarnath, the fresh spell of snow and rain has hampered the snow-clearing work and the pilgrims were being asked to move with caution towards Kedarnath from Gaurikund
The Rishikesh-Badrinath Highway was closed near Bajpur Chada Near Govind Ghat in Chamoli district due to heavy mud and boulder falls resulting in road blockage for the traffic leaving the pilgrims stranded on both sides of the road for several hours on Sunday.
The district administration stopped pilgrims from moving towards Badrinath shrine in the wake of the landslide at Srinagar, said officials.
NK Joshi, district disaster management authority officer Chamoli said, “ The road was closed for traffic early morning on Sunday and disaster management teams along with the public works department (PWD) reached the site with JCB machines to remove the huge boulders and mud debris.”
The pilgrim movement has been halted at Srinagar till the road is not cleared of debris and it is safe to continue with the Yatra.
Surjan Singh, a resident of Chamoli, said “The road is closed in three places on Badrinath Highway near Bajpur, Sahia Pul, and Pinaula and it could take more than five hours to clear the road of mud debris and open it for traffic.”
The pilgrims on their way to Badrinath shrine and those returning from the shrine were stuck at the spot of the incident and had to wait for several hours and long queues were observed at the landslide incident spot.
The district police officials said that the pilgrim vehicles were halted for a brief period to avoid long queues of pilgrim vehicles towards Badrinath at Srinagar as a precautionary measure.
DP Kala, district disaster management authority officer Pauri said, “The traffic was slowed down at Srinagar to avoid long queues for a brief period but now the pilgrim vehicular movement has been restored by the Police department at Srinagar. “
In view of the inclement weather alert by India Meteorological Department (IMD) Dehradun on Saturday, the state government extended the stopping of the Char Dham yatra registration process till May 3 for Kedarnath shrine.
Meanwhile, at Kedarnath, the fresh spell of snow and rain has hampered the snow-clearing work and the pilgrims were being asked to move with caution towards Kedarnath from Gaurikund.
NS Rajwar, district disaster management authority officer Rudraprayag said, “ In view of the fresh spell of snow we have increased the number of workers from 34 to 30 to clear the snow and the pilgrims are being advised to move cautiously, especially near the Bhairav glacier area.”
Over 8,000 pilgrims had visited the Kedarnath shrine till noon, said NS Rajwar.
IMD Dehradun has sounded a yellow alert with a forecast for five days of light to moderate rain, thunderstorms and snowfall accompanied by gusty winds, and squall likely to occur in many places. The IMD forecast also said that snowfall is likely to occur at many places over 3,500 metres.
