Rudraprayag: The road remained closed for four hours on August 12 due to debris and boulders falling on Sirobgadh on Badrinath highway. During this time, hundreds of vehicles got stuck on both sides of the highway, while vehicles also remained stuck due to the highway turning into a swamp. Somehow the vehicle owners took out their vehicles.
The three km area from Sirobgadh to Khankhara has been declared a landslide affected zone. The highway is getting blocked for hours every day due to several tons of debris falling on the road. Accidents are happening on the highway every day and many times people have also become victims of sudden death.
The problem of landslide in Sirobgadh of Badrinath highway is not new. The process of debris falling from the hill has been going on here for the last three decades. By the way, landslides are happening in the three km area from Sirobgadh to Khankhara. In such a situation, this area has been declared a landslide affected zone.
For the last two-three years, the construction work of Papadasu-Khankhara bypass to get rid of Sirobgadh slide zone has also been stopped. It has been 6 to 7 years since this work started, but this bypass has not been built till date. In such a situation, the people of Rudraprayag and Chamoli along with the devotees coming on Chardham Yatra have to pass through the landslide affected zone, due to which many times the highway remains closed for hours and many incidents also happen.
Due to heavy rains on Tuesday, the Badrinath Highway between Rudraprayag-Srinagar got blocked due to heavy debris near Sirobgadh, 15 km towards Srinagar. The JCB of NH PWD started the work of opening the highway. Due to excessive debris, a lot of problems were also faced in opening the road. During this time, the supply of essential goods in the district as well as Chamoli district was delayed. Due to long queues of vehicles on both sides of the road, people kept waiting for the jam to open. After about four hours of hard work, the highway was opened, after which people heaved a sigh of relief.
During this time, due to the debris on the highway, a swampy situation was created, in which the vehicles of the passengers also got stuck. Somehow the vehicle owners pulled their vehicles out of the swamp. Due to heavy rains, the situation between Sirobagadh and Khankhara has become very bad.
DMMO NS Rajwar said that debris is continuously falling from the hill in Sirobagadh of Badrinath Highway. The machines of the NH department are working promptly to remove this debris. He said that machines have been deployed in the landslide affected areas, due to which the routes are being opened on time.
