Pligrims undertaking the journey to popular pilgrimage route known as Char Dham Yatra in Uttarakhand have been left stranded due to landslides triggered by incessant rainfall. The pilgrimage to four temple towns of Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri attracts hundreds of thousands of devotees every year.
Heavy rains have lashed the state over the past few days and a landslide on Saturday blocked the crucial Gangotri highway near Raturi Sera village. The landslides have led to the closure of Badrinath national highway and districts like Chamoli and Rudraprayag have been cut off from other parts of the state.
Tourists and pilgrims in the state are now waiting for the roads to open. The Public Works Department is engaged in the clearance work but is facing problems due to continuous falling of stones and rock particles.
As a safety measure, the administration has now stopped all the people in Srinagar municipal board of Uttarakhand and has also prohibited them from going further. Meanwhile, senior sub-inspector of Uttarkashi town, Santosh Kumar, said the roads will open soon.
"Due to heavy rainfall in the mountain areas and it being a landslide zone, the road was swept away. The cars waiting to leave have lined up. We stopped some cars in Srinagar area as it is safe. As the area has good facilities for the tourists to stay and eat, we have stopped them there," said Kumar on Sunday.
The stranded pilgrims say they are facing problems as they are running out of food and water. "The road is closed since 5.30 p.m. (1200 GMT) and the work is going on," said a pilgrim, Ashok Yadav, adding "We don`t have anything to eat or drink. Around 600 to 700 people are stuck here."
In 2013, flash floods and landslides unleashed by early monsoon rains left almost 600 people dead and 6,000 missing in Uttarakhand. The disaster, dubbed a "Himalayan tsunami" by officials and media, prompted one of the largest airlifts in the history of the Indian Air Force, as helicopters flew hundreds of sorties to rescue residents and pilgrims and drop thousands of kilograms of relief material.
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