A month has passed since disaster struck Uttarakhand, but even now residents of dozens of villages in Rudraprayag, Chamoli and Uttarkashi districts are not getting ration and relief materials because the road links to these villages have been disrupted.
Affected villagers, especially in parts of Uttarkashi district are walking many miles to secure food stuffs from relief camps which has raised the level of discontent among the disaster affected locals. Due to damaged water supply system, many villagers are trudging for miles to fetch water while many have to walk more than 10 kilometres to access transport facility. The PWD is estimated to have suffered damage amounting to more than Rs 400 crore in Garhwal.
Chief Engineer Public Works Department, RP Bhatt told The Pioneer that a total of 1,168 roads were damaged in Garhwal due to incessant rains, cloud burst and landslides experienced since June 16-17, but now only 192 roads are closed for traffic which include 39 roads in Chamoli district, 17 roads in Rudraprayag, 27 in Uttarkashi, 52 in Tehri, 21 in Dehradun and 32 in Pauri
district. Bhatt said that to clear the roads for traffic, 20 vehicles and machines including bulldozers have been deployed in Chamoli, 17 in Rudraprayag, 36 in Uttarkashi, 51 in Tehri, 52 in Pauri and 16 in Dehradun district.