Alert cop’s warnings saved many in Uttarakhand
The alacrity of a beat constable on Friday helped hordes of pilgrims in Uttarakhand avoid a landslide on a key road that stranded thousands headed to the Badrinath shrine.
State police officials said the constable noticed around noon small rocks rolling down the Hathi Parvat, a landslide prone zone, at Vishnuprayag. He alerted his seniors at the district headquarters in Chamoli, and more men were deployed there .
“At first, we helped people pass the stretch. But soon, more rocks started to fall and we immediately stopped movement,” said Tripti Bhatt, Chamoli superintendent of police. At 2pm, two hours after the constable had spotted the first signs, a big portion of a hilltop came crashing down.
The ‘Chardham yatra’ — an annual pilgrimage to the Hindu sites at Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gamgotri and Yamunotri — has been temporarily halted.
The pilgrimage draws lakhs of people from India and Nepal to the Himalayan state every year.
Landslides and flashfloods killed nearly 5,000 — most of them pilgrims —in 2013 when rains triggered a deluge in the Kedarnath valley. But the unofficial death toll was pegged at 10,000 as many bodies were not found.
“While around 11,000 pilgrims have been stationed at Badrinath shrine area that has the capacity to accommodate 80,000 pilgrims, nearly 1,200 were taken to safe places at Govindghat area and 450 pilgrims — those coming back —were stopped at Pandukeshwar,” Bhatt said.
NONE STRANDED ON CHARDHAM ROUTE
Friday’s landslide on the Badrinath temple route affected 1,500 Chardham pilgrims but no one was stranded, the Uttarakhand government said on Saturday. “...There were no unfortunate incidents, 1,800 tourists (against reported 15K) were affected & arrangements were made for them (sic),” chief minister Trivendra S Rawat tweeted. The state disaster management secretary, however, put the figure of the pilgrims to nearly 1,500.
THE CONSTABLE NOTICED SMALL ROCKS ROLLING DOWN AND ALERTED HIS SENIOR OFFICERS IN CHAMOLI