Kedarnath yatra halted after landslides block 150 roads in Uttarakhand

DEHRADUN: Triggered by heavy rainfall in the Garhwal Himalayas, fresh landslides at 25 places have blocked more than 150 key roads in Uttarakhand, among them those linking Rudraprayag to Kedarnath, Rishikesh to Gangotri and Rishikesh to Yamnotri.

The Rishikesh-Badrinath National Highway, too, has been badly affected, forcing the state government to deploy a 400-member joint Border Roads Organisation (BRO) and PWD team to clear the roads of debris.

Chief minister Harish Rawat said on Tuesday that landslides on the Kedarnath yatra routes have forced the government to halt it for the time being. He, however, added that not a single devotee was stranded anywhere.

Elsewhere, the landslides have paralyzed life in large swathes of Rudrapryag, Chamoli, Uttarkashi, Pauri and Tehri districts.

Uttarakhand chief secretary Subhash Kumar said that even with multiple teams at work, it would be tough to get the roads traffic-ready soon. A senior BRO officer posted in Uttarkashi said, "Clearing all roads within a stipulated time is one of the major challenges before the rescue teams in view of incessant rains and uncertain weather conditions in the region."

Members of the joint BRO and PWD teams painted a bleak picture, saying clearing of the roads would have to wait for the rains to stop. "Under the circumstances, the question of clearing all these roads does not arise," said Puish Rautela, executive director, Disaster Management Center, Dehradun.

Rawat, who held a meeting with senior IAS officers, including chief secretary Subhash Kumar, additional chief secretary Rakesh Sharma and secretary (disaster management) Bhaskaranand Joshi, to monitor the situation on the Char Dham roads, said the yatra could only resume after the landslides subside.