Badrinath highway opens after 20 hours, stranded pilgrims relieved
DEHRADUN: Around 4000 pilgrims breathed a sigh of relief as the Badrinath Highway opened around 11am on Sunday after being blocked for over 20 hours due to a landslide in the Lambagad region, officials at the State Emergency Operations Centre said.
The highway was blocked on Saturday around 2pm after boulders fell from the mountain due to heavy rainfall. After clearing the debris, the road was opened around 11am on Sunday, when over 3900 pilgrims stranded on the way, breathed a sigh of relief as the highway opened.
Police personnel deployed on the spot stopped the movement of vehicles on both sides of the highway.
NK Joshi, district disaster management officer in Chamoli said that 3000 pilgrims returning from Badrinath were stopped at the shrine itself, while 900 pilgrims going to Badrinath were stopped at Joshimath, Govindghat and Pandukeshwar. Six village roads were still closed in the Chamoli district at the time of the filing of this report.
In July, around 600 pilgrims on their way to the Badrinath shrine were stranded after the highway was blocked for over 12 hours following a landslide near Lambagad. One person had also died in August when boulders from the mountain fell on a bus ferrying pilgrims from Badrinath shrine. The India Meteorological Department on Sunday issued a yellow alert and warned heavy rainfall is likely to occur at isolated places, especially in Chamoli, Nainital and Pithoragarh districts of Uttarakhand.
For Monday, the Meteorological department predicted light to moderate rainfall or thundershowers at a few places with intense showers at isolated places in the state.