Landslides hit U'Khand, 60 families moved to safer places

Over 60 families were today shifted to safer places in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district after heavy rains lashed many areas triggering landslides, even as authorities said 1,710 roads out of 2,092 damaged in the last month's flash floods have been reopened to traffic.

The families were moved out of six villages in Chamoli district on the direction of District Magistrate V Sahnmugam, officials said.

Meanwhile, former state Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank had a narrow escape when a landslide hit the Netali Maneri Marg in Uttarkashi district where he was on a tour to assess the situation, according to District Magistrate Pankaj Pandey.

BJP sources said Nishank, along with his supporters, was on foot as roads in the area had suffered extensive damage in the floods.

An Uttarakhand government release said 1,710 roads out of 2,092 damaged in the devastating floods have been reopened to traffic.

A total of 3,729 villages, out of 4,200 which were cut off, have been connected by roads, it said. The authorities were working on a war footing to restore road connectivity to 471 villages, besides repairing 382 damaged roads.

The Centre has earmarked Rs 300 crore for Border Road Organisation(BRO) for reconstruction of roads.

Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan, who was on a day-long visit here, said that a local office of the Ministry of Environment and Forests will be opened in Dehradun for expeditious transfer of land of up to five hectare for rebuilding of damaged infrastructure.