Thousands of pilgrims are stranded in Badrinath, Hemkund and on the Char Dham Yatra route due to roads being blocked to traffic following incessant rains in the five mountainous districts of Garhwal region for the past three days.
The Char Dham Yatra remained suspended for the second consecutive day on Sunday due to the rains and resulting landslides on the yatra route in Chamoli, Uttarkashi and Rudraprayag districts. There were reports of three deaths each from Rudraprayag district and Dehradun. The authorities have advised the pilgrims to remain in Haridwar or Rishikesh and move towards the Char Dham shrines only after the routes are cleared.
The destruction caused by rains in Uttarakhand has exposed the lack of preparedness by the State Government which had claimed earlier that all necessary arrangements had been made to prevent any inconvenience to the pilgrims. It is estimated that more than 10,000 pilgrims are stranded on the highways from Rishikesh to Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri. The Yatra route was dotted with landslides and traffic jams in many places.
Rudraprayag District Magistrate Vijay Kumar Dhondiyal told The Pioneer that two persons died in Bhimmalli near Gaurikund and one youth died in Kund. Two rooms of Chandrapuri tourist rest house of Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam were damaged and three homes in Silli at Agastyamuni were also damaged. The bridge at Kund near Gupkashi is submerging with the administration alerting the army and ITBP. Dhondiyal said that 35 stranded persons had been rescued from Gaurikund by the administration and ITBP. The State Government has sanctioned Rs three crore to district out of which the adminstration has distributed Rs 35 lakh to each Tehsil. The Kedarnath Yatra has been suspended by the administration for safety reasons.
The Uttarkashi additional district magistrate BK Mishra informed that the water level of the Bhagarathi river has risen and is only three metres below the danger mark. Mishra denied any information about a cloud burst on Saturday midnight but said that continuous rains are increasing the possibility of flood. The people residing in the slums on the river band in Uttarkashi have been shifted to Government inter college rescue camp along with 40 pilgrims from lucknow.
About 3,000 pilgrims are stranded in Gangotri while about 2,500 are stranded at Yamunotri stranded in the shrine. The roads are blocked at many places, but landslides and boulders have caused greater problems at Nalapani and Dharasu while the road near Sangam Chatti has been completely swept away. Four homes and three JCBs used for flood protection works were swept away at Tiloth while the bridge connecting
Tiloth to Uttarkashi has been damaged. The Gangotri national highway has been opened only for 40 minutes in the past two days. The Uttarkashi administration has established rescue centres in different places including seven in Uttarkashi, two in Chinyalsaur and one each in Dunda and Barkot.
According to sources, the route to Badrinath has been blocked ahead of Pipalkoti at Pagalnala, Diggadi near Joshimath, Gaghariya near Hemkund and between Hanumanchatti and Badrinath. Nearly 9,000 pilgrims are stranded in Badrinath and about 3,000 are stuck on the Hemkund route.