Friday, 30 June 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN/JOSHIMATH
The Badrinath National Highway was blocked on Thursday following a landslide triggered by heavy rains near the Chhinka area of the Chamoli district. Hundreds of pilgrims were stranded due to this incident. The stranded pilgrims included those who were on their way to Badrinath and Hemkund Sahib, as per the officials. Several places in Chamoli received heavy rains late on Wednesday night.
Communication services also remained affected in various parts of the district. The district officials said that the authorities concerned started working to clear the rubble to restore traffic along the route immediately after receiving the information about the landslide. The stranded pilgrims were also provided with drinking water and food by the authorities. The Tehsildar Sadar of Chamoli, Dheeraj Rana, who was monitoring the work at the site, said, “The Birahi and Chinka road was closed in the morning from around 9 am and it was closed again from 9:30 am to 10:00 am. It will remain closed till the debris is cleared off the routes.” He said that the administration had been trying to deploy some machines towards Chinka too to speed up the process of clearing out the debris.
The teams of national highways were also involved in carrying out the work of clearing the routes. He said that the police were also present at the spot to provide necessary assistance. Rana said that the routes were expected to be reopened by 6:30 or 7 PM but they were still reported to be blocked at the time of filing the report. “For the people who were stuck, the administration had arranged water, biscuits and some snacks. The administration will take all possible measures to ensure the safety of pilgrims,” added Rana.
Besides this, passengers going from Badrinath to Haridwar were also stopped by the police at the Birhi checkpost for security reasons till the road opens, when the highway was closed due to a landslide. The police also stopped passengers coming towards Badrinath via Karnaprayag, Langasu and Nandprayag and asked them to move ahead only after the resumption of traffic on the route. The authorities have also appealed to pilgrims to plan their visits to Char Dham shrines as per the weather report to avoid inconvenience during monsoon.
