The stretch of National Highway 58 to Badrinath, blocked at Hathiparvat near Marwadi, was cleared after a week of debris cleaning operation and opened to traffic on Monday night. After reopening of the road, several vehicles reached Joshimath on Monday and many pilgrims continued their journey to Badrinath in vehicles.
Though the highway has been reopened for traffic, the problems of the authorities and travellers have not yet been completely resolved. This is because a stretch of the highway that is about 20 metres in length, has been destroyed by heavy rockfall near Hathiparvat.
The Border Roads Organisation has made an alternate diversion to enable the easy flow of the vehicular traffic but there is strong possibility of problems during the monsoon since this stretch of the road is close to river. Regarding the widening of the National Highway, a Border Roads Organisation (BRO) official said that it will take some time to remove the heavy boulders. The officials are not making any statements on how safe this stretch of the highway is expected to be during the rainy season.
At present though the flow of traffic is being facilitated through this stretch of the National Highway, observers point out that inconvenience would be faced on this stretch by travellers in case it rains. Since hurried work at this site might prove detrimental, the BRO would face a greater challenge keeping this stretch open for traffic especially during the rains.
Removing the heavy boulders from the road would be among the major challenges to be tackled by the BRO. There is no surety on whether this stretch of the highway will be repaired and made safer before the advent of the rainy season.
The highway has not yet been cleared completely of glacier with vehicles being made to pass over the snow. When asked about the status of the National Highway, BRO Major Roop Jyoti Das said that work would continue on the stretch of the road near Marwadi while work is also being carried out on the road at Kanchanganga. He refused to say anything regarding the chances of widening the highway near Marwadi before the start of the rainy season.