Uttarakhand: Landslide on Varunavat Hill buries vehicles under debris, families evacuated

Heavy rains triggered a massive landslide on the Varunavat Hill here early Wednesday, burying many vehicles and prompting evacuation of over a dozen families to safer places. The landslide occurred at 1.45 am after heavy rain lashed Uttarkashi and surrounding areas on Tuesday night.

Panic spread as large amount of debris containing huge boulders fell from the Varunavat Hill, officials here said.

Luckily, there was no loss of life in the incident but many vehicles standing along the Gangotri National Highway and the ones parked in the Gofiara Colony here got buried in the debris of the landslide, they said.


Most of the vehicles belonged to the local people.

Uttarkashi is located at the foot of Varunavat Hill.

As soon as the information about the landslide was received, teams of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and the district administration reached the spot.

More than a dozen families affected by the landslide are being shifted to safer places, Utarkashi District Magistrate Meherban Singh Bisht said.

The DM held a meeting with senior officials to review the situation and discuss the strategy to deal with any emergency.

The landslide revived memories of a series of landslides on the Varunavat Hill in 2003 which continued for a long time. The then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had given a package of more than Rs 250 crore for the treatment and stabilisation work for the hill.

Many minor landslips have occurred in the area during the last 21 years, but the one which occurred in the wee hours of Wednesday frightened people, raising questions on the treatment work done on Varunavat hill and its safety.