Uttarakhand landslide: Authorities re-opens road to Badrinath for light vehicles
Chief Minister TS Rawat said that 1,800 tourists, not 15,000 as reported earlier, have been stranded.
Authorities opened the Badrinath highway on Saturday evening but only for light vehicles. Cars carrying passengers, who got stranded because of the landslide, were allowed to ply with police escort as well, reported ANI.
Earlier in the day, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat had said that the road to Badrinath Dham Yatra, blocked by a landslide on Friday evening, will be cleared by Saturday. He also said no one was killed or injured.
“No one was stranded, there were no unfortunate incidents, 1,800 tourists (against the reported 15,000) were affected and arrangements were made for them,” Rawat tweeted.
#Uttarakhand Badrinath highway opens for light vehicles,stranded cars with passengers made to cross area of landslide with police escort
— ANI (@ANI_news) May 20, 2017
Information of landslides was shared with various towns along yatra route & that helped avoid stranding on the roads.Road will reopen today
— Trivendra S Rawat (@tsrawatbjp) May 20, 2017
The chief minister added that the Border Roads Organisation was working to clear the debris on a war footing. “Please maintain calm and don’t spread panic. The situation is completely under the control of the government. We will overcome this challenge,” he tweeted.
All the necessary arrangements are being made to help stranded pilgrims on both sides of the landslide area- Uttarakhand govt is with you
— Trivendra S Rawat (@tsrawatbjp) May 19, 2017
District Magistrate Ashish Joshi also told The Times of India that the “yatra has not been halted as reported by certain sections of the media.”
The landslide had blocked part of the road leading up from Joshimath to Badrinath in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand. It was caused by a huge rock rolling down the slope of a hill and blocking the road near Vishnuprayag.