Page 36 - Uttarakhand

Uttarakhand rains: One killed in landslide in Pauri, normal life disrupted

One person died in a landslide in Pauri district on Wednesday while water levels of the Pindar river and its tributary Pranmati in Chamoli district rose again following heavy rains in Uttarakhand, threatening to flood places located along their banks. The meteorological department has issued red or orange alerts for Wednesday in all the districts of the state. Due to continuous rains in most parts of the state, rivers and streams are in spate and many roads including national highways are blocked for traffic, affecting normal life. According to information received from the District Disaster Management Office of Pauri, debris suddenly fell from a hill near Ufrankhal on Jagatpuri-Ufrankhal-Ramnagar motorway in Thalisain tehsil at around 4 pm, hitting two labourers. One of the workers identified as Heera Singh (55) died in the accident while another named Shyam Singh (35) was injured. Both the labourers were residents of Paptoli. In Haridwar, the walls of three shops built near the

Panic grips residents as groundwater oozes out of floors in Rishikesh

Groundwater has begun to ooze out of the floors of some houses in Ganganagar area of Uttarakhand due to incessant rains, causing concern among residents and authorities. "The area is located along the banks of the Ganga and due to the absence of a proper drainage system, it is perpetually waterlogged during the rainy season. The continuing spell of heavy rains this monsoon has worsened the situation with water seeping through the floors of houses," Ekant Goyal, a social worker in Ganganagar locality, said. Retired government official Anoop Mittal attributed the problem to a sudden rise in the ground water level in the area following heavy rains. "It is the failure of the sewer system in Ganganagar area. The state government should take immediate steps to flush out water from the area and conduct a geological study of the groundwater sources for the safety of the houses in Ganganagar," he said. Some residents are so scared that they are planning to sell off their properties in the .

Uttarakhand suffered losses of over Rs 1,000 crore this monsoon: CM

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Tuesday said a disaster-like situation prevails in Uttarakhand due to excessive rains and put the losses suffered by the state so far at over Rs 1,000 crore. "Heavy rains this monsoon have destroyed crops, washed away roads, bridges, houses and cowsheds and also claimed the lives of several people and cattle. A disaster-like situation prevails in the state, he said. Properties worth more than Rs 1,000 crore have been lost and the monsoon is still active," Dhami told reporters after reviewing the rain situation in the state after his return from Delhi. He said a scheme will soon be introduced by the state government to rehabilitate the affected people and take care of children who have lost their parents in rain-related disasters in Uttarakhand. A team from the Centre has already made a preliminary survey and will make a detailed assessment of the losses caused by the disaster, Dhami said. Replying to a question regarding the increasing load of

Portion of Rishikesh-Badrinath NH-58 damaged in Chamoli, traffic stopped

According to the district administration, a 250-metre stretch of the highway in Purusadi was damaged because of which the local administration had to suspend the movement of traffic

Uttarakhand govt to conduct comprehensive survey of disaster-prone cities

Uttarakhand government will conduct a comprehensive survey of disaster-prone cities and towns, tenders for which have been invited, officials said. Director of Uttarakhand Landslide Mitigation and Management Centre Shantanu Sarkar said tenders will be verified after monsoon and work on the survey could take time. Right now we have started the process which is at the planning stage. We have not yet decided which cities or towns will be included in this, Sarkar said. Geophysical and geo-mapping investigation of cities will be part of the survey, he said. In January this year, the land subsidence crisis in Joshimath grabbed national attention. Huge cracks had appeared in many houses, fields and roads making the town unsafe to live in, and a large number of people had to be moved to safer places. The state government also got various national level technical institutes to investigate various aspects of the Joshimath subsidence. It also asked experts to ascertain whether the 520 MW Tapo

U'khand CM to meet ministers in Delhi, seeks assistance for disaster relief

100 per cent of the funds received from the central government under the centrally funded schemes run in the state should be spent on development works, said Chief Minister Dhami

Rishikesh-Badrinath highway blocked due to landslide in Tehri in U'khand

Traffic has been suspended on the Rishikesh-Badrinath National Highway-58 following a heavy landslide from the mountain in the Totaghati area of Tehri Garhwal district, officials said on Saturday

U'khand rains: Resorts in Lakshman Jhula area ordered to cancel bookings

Days after five members of a family from Haryana were killed at a resort in Lakshman Jhula area after it was hit by a landslide, the Pauri district administration on Friday asked resort owners and camp operators in the popular tourist spot to cancel the bookings till further orders in view of heavy rains. Debris of a landslide fell on Monday on a resort named Night Paradise Camp in Lakshman Jhula area burying a family of six from Haryana's Kurukshetra and Panipat districts inside. The lone survivor, a 10-year-old girl, was rescued alive hours after the tragedy but the bodies of the rest of them were pulled out of the debris one after another over the past few days. The order asking resort owners to cancel the bookings till further orders has been issued for the safety of tourists, Lakhshman Jhula Station House Officer (SHO) Vinod Gusain said. "Saving lives is the administration's top priority. An order like this has been issued for the safety of tourists," he said. Strict legal ac

Uttarakhand rains: Heavy rainfall disrupts normal life, water enters houses

"Efforts are being made by the team to make way for drainage of excessive rainwater with the help of JCB. SDRF is constantly trying to help the affected people," added the officials

Message from the mountains

Himachal, Uttarakhand must check construction projects

Subsidence, landslides hit Jakhan village near Dehradun, rescue op underway

Jakhan village is home to about 15 families, comprising 50 people

Nearly 300 pilgrims rescued from trek route to Madmaheshwar in Uttarakhand

Rescuers have safely evacuated 293 pilgrims stranded since Monday on the trek route to Madmaheshwar temple following a bridge collapse in rain-hit Uttarakhand's Rudraprayag district. The shrine, which is part of the Panch Kedar group of temples in Uttarakhand, is located at an altitude of 11,473 feet. The rescue operation concluded with the evacuation of 293 pilgrims, Rudraprayag District Disaster Management Officer Nandan Singh Rajwar said on Wednesday. State Disaster Response Force personnel were pressed into service and 240 pilgrims airlifted by a helicopter on Wednesday. Another 53 pilgrims were evacuated on Tuesday through the rope-river crossing method, the state disaster control room here said on Wednesday. Around 290 pilgrims were stranded on the route on Monday when a bridge at Bantoli in Gaundar village collapsed following a heavy downpour. Incessant rain has been lashing various parts of the hill state, causing landslides that demolished buildings and flooding rivers and

960 rescued, over 10K taken to safer locations in HP, U'khand, Punjab: NDRF

More than 960 people have been rescued while over 10,000 have been shifted to safer places in regions of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab battered by heavy rains and flash floods, the NDRF said on Wednesday. A total of 29 teams of the federal contingency force have been earmarked for undertaking relief and rescue operations in these states out of which 14 are actively deployed while the rest are on standby. Due to excessive rainfall in the last few days, flash floods hit Kangra, Shimla and Mandi districts of Himachal Pradesh and Rupnagar district of Punjab, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) said in a statement. Several houses have been damaged and a number of people are stranded at various places, it said. So far, NDRF has rescued more than 960 victims and shifted 10,363 personnel to safer places in these states, it said in an update issued at 7 pm. The central force apart from state disaster response units, army, air force, police and local authorities are ...

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We must promote tourism but not at villages' cost: Union tourism secretary

Tourism should be promoted but not at the cost of villages, Union Tourism Secretary V Vidyavathi on Wednesday said as she held an interactive session with a group of sarpanches and gram pradhans from a large number of border villages. She said adventure tourism is an important segment for the tourism ministry and it has huge potential in the villages chosen under the Vibrant Villages Programme. Launched as a centrally-sponsored scheme, the programme envisages comprehensive development of identified villages in 46 blocks abutting the northern border in 19 districts of Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and the Union Territory of Ladakh. Vidyavathi held a session with 300 sarpanches and gram pradhans from the border villages chosen under the programme at Hotel Ashoka here, the tourism ministry said in a statement. On Tuesday, these village heads attended the 77th Independence Day celebrations at Red Fort. They were among the 1,800 special guests invited to the .

Non-adherence to building codes in hills can have lethal consequences: Omar

National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah on Wednesday said people in the hill states should be mindful of the building codes while undertaking constructions as non-adherence to these guidelines can have lethal consequences. "Years of Govt apathy and wilful ignorance while multi-storey concrete structures were built on unstable hillsides has lethal consequences. Who thought these buildings were a good idea? All hill states need to be mindful of the growing impact of climate change & enforce building codes accordingly," Abdullah, the NC vice president, posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. He was reacting to a video of a house collapse on a hillside in Himachal Pradesh. Two persons were killed on Tuesday when eight houses, including six makeshift ones, collapsed and a slaughterhouse was buried under the debris following a landslide in Krishnanagar locality in Shimla.

Uttarakhand: House collapse near Joshimath leaves two dead, five injured

Two Nepalese nationals were killed and five others injured when a house collapsed at Helang near subsidence-hit Joshimath in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district, officials said on Wednesday. There were seven people inside the two-storey house when it collapsed at around 8 pm on Tuesday. Rescue operations were launched immediately after the incident. One of them died on the spot while the other succumbed to injuries at a hospital early on Wednesday, they said. Five people have been rescued from the rubble of the house out of whom two are in a serious condition, he said. The house was built near a crusher unit on the banks of the Andalusians river. People working in the crusher unit were living in the house. The deceased were identified as Anmol (19) and Prince (21), both from Nepal. Earlier this year, several houses in Joshimath were damaged due to land subsidence and since the onset of the monsoon, the problem has aggravated.

Uttarakhand rains: Chopper to rescue pilgrims en route to Madmaheshwar

Around 70 pilgrims stranded on the trek route to Madmaheshwar temple in Uttarakhand's Rudraprayag district were safely evacuated on Wednesday with the help of a helicopter and SDRF personnel, while efforts were underway to rescue over 80 devotees still stuck at the spot, officials said. More than 200 pilgrims got stranded on the route on Monday when a bridge at Bantoli in Gaundar village broke down following heavy rains.While 52 of them were rescued with the help of ropes by SDRF personnel by Tuesday evening, 70 more were rescued on Wednesday morning in a helicopter, he said. A total of 122 pilgrims have been rescued so far and it is hoped the rest will be rescued by the afternoon, Ukhimath Sub Divisional Magistrate Jitendra Verma said. If the weather continues to be clear all the pilgrims will be rescued by this afternoon, he said, adding adequate food items have been made available at the Madmaheshwar temple to take care of stranded pilgrims and a medical team besides a police ...

Uttarakhand: Ganga's water level in Rishikesh drops after heavy rainfall

According to officials, the water level of the river Ganga at the Parmarth Niketan Ghat has declined in the past twenty-four hours

IMD Weather Update Today (Aug 16): Eight houses razed in Himachal yesterday

IMD has issued a rain alert in several parts of India. Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand are to experience heavy rainfall in the next three to four days. Check region-wise weather forecast here