With the washing away of a bridge on the Pinder river in Bageshwar due to heavy rain earlier, as many as 1,163 families belonging to 10 villages in Kapkot tehsil still remain affected.
More so, poor condition of roads particularly in rural areas of Bageshwar and other districts of the Kumaon division has only added to the woes of the locals. Following no indication of early reconstruction of the bridge on Pinder River, to ensure smooth supply of at least essential commodities to the affected families has come as a major challenging task for the local administration.
But keeping in view of poor transportation services, efforts are on at the tehsil level to make relief materials available to the needy in affected areas, said US Rana, ADM and in charge of the disaster management, Bageshwar. At the same time, he informed that though a majority of the damaged motorable roads have been opened for the vehicular traffic and there are still over a dozen roads which are yet to be opened. But efforts are on to restore the transportation services over a dozen a roads, he added.
Keeping in view the difficulties that the affected people are facing, officials concerned of the PWD, Prime Minister Gram Sarak Yojana (PMGSY) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) have been asked to early restoration of the vehicular movements on the blocked roads across other district, added Rana. Apart from damage to aforesaid bridge and over a dozen motorable roads, over one hundred houses have also been damaged in the Bageshwar district.
Besides, agricultural land i.e. 5.46 hectare has also been damaged due to heavy rain/landslides across the Bageshwar district, informed the officials concerned of the Bageshwar district administration. Since agriculture is one of the primary sources of livelihood of people in Bageshwar, therefore, it won’t be so easy for the disaster victims to regain the loss that they have suffered in this devastation.
However, with opening of two more roads on Sunday, only two roads i.e. the Ghiroli-Khairali Road and the lwardoba- Goniyaro Road remain blocked in the Nainital district, claims the officials concerned of the Nainital district administration. Efforts are on to open these roads and no untoward incident was reported from any parts of the Nainital district so far on Sunday, added the officials concerned.
In the meanwhile, condition of roads particularly in hilly areas of the region particularly in Pithorgarh is still reported to be poor. Rainy conditions for the past few days have only hampered road repair works in the affected hilly terrain of the region.