Heavy rains wash away part of Badrinath highway

A 100-metre stretch of the Gauchar-Badrinath highway at Kamera was washed away on Monday following heavy overnight rainfall, disrupting the pilgrimage to the Himalayan temple

Dehradun: A 100-metre stretch of the Gauchar-Badrinath highway at Kamera was washed away on Monday following heavy overnight rainfall, disrupting the pilgrimage to the Himalayan temple. The route would remain closed for Badrinath pilgrims for two-three days, an official statement said here, adding efforts are underway on a war footing to repair and open the route to traffic at the earliest.

A part of a road also caved in at Bhattnagar near Gauchar and five vehicles parked along the roadside got buried in the debris but no one was hurt in the incident, the State emergency operation centre here said. The rubble was being cleared, it said.

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As normalisation of traffic along the route was likely to take 2-3 days or more, stranded Badrinath and Karnaprayag bound vehicles were advised to take alternative routes to reach their destination, Rudraprayag Superintendent of Police Vishakha Ashok Bhadane, who visited the site, said. Small vehicles were diverted to Karnaprayag or Gopeshwar via Rudraprayag, Belni bridge, Collectorate, Saterakhal, Durgadhar, Chopta, Mohankhal and Pokhri, she said.