Dharali-Harsil road connectivity to be restored within 3 days after cloudburst damage: BRO Chief
Following a cloudburst and heavy rainfall in Uttarakhand, the Border Roads Organisation is working to restore connectivity to Dharali and Harsil, tackling landslides and a damaged bridge. Connectivity is expected to be restored soon. 274 stranded individuals have been safely evacuated from Gangotri and other areas, with relief operations continuing.
PTI Uttarkashi: Search and rescue operation underway following flash floods triggered by a cloudburst, in Uttarkashi. Following a devastating cloudburst and heavy rainfall in Uttarakhand, the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) on Thursday launched swift efforts to restore road and bridge connectivity to the affected areas of Dharali and Harsil.BRO Director General Lt Gen Raghu Srinivasan said that four major landslide points and a damaged bridge are being tackled, with connectivity expected to be restored soon and bridge work likely to begin by tonight.Speaking to ANI, Srinivasan said, "After the cloudburst and heavy rainfall following it, the distance from here to Dharali is approximately 96 km, and there are four major slide points throughout the route, and one bridge has been destroyed. For the past two days, BRO personnel and machinery have been deployed, and efforts are underway to restore the roads. We expect that connectivity will be restored in a few hours. Bridge stores have already been loaded, and our jawans are ready. As soon as the road connectivity is restored, they will rush to start the construction of the bridge by tonight... We hope to launch the bridge in a day.""In the next three days, we will be able to open the road to Harsil and restore connectivity. The road connecting Harsil to Dharali is currently underwater. We can either restore the old road or carve out a fresh one; both options are open," he added.Earlier in the day, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami visited a hospital in Uttarkashi to meet people affected by the recent natural disaster. During his visit, he inquired about their well-being and instructed doctors to ensure proper treatment for all victims.
The Uttarakhand government informed that 274 individuals, stranded in Gangotri and other areas, have been safely evacuated to Harshil. The group comprises 131 people from Gujarat, 123 from Maharashtra, 21 from Madhya Pradesh, 12 from Uttar Pradesh, 6 from Rajasthan, seven from Delhi, five from Assam, five from Karnataka, three from Telangana, and one from Punjab. All are reported safe and are being transported to Uttarkashi or Dehradun.Furthermore, according to the Uttarakhand Police, the people rescued under the Uttarkashi Disaster Relief Operation were brought from Harshil to Jolly Grant Airport, Dehradun, on Thursday by Chinook helicopter. Medical check-ups are being conducted for all the evacuees at the airport.Relief and rescue operations are continuing on a war footing, with the joint efforts from the Uttarakhand Police, SDRF, Army, ITBP and other relief agencies.Earlier, CM Dhami visited the Matli Helipad in the Uttarkashi district, where he met individuals airlifted from the flood-affected Dharali village.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
a day ago
- Time of India
Bad weather delays Dharali air rescue op; BROcompletes work on bailey bridge for road link
Dehradun: Rescue operations via helicopters in flash flood-hit Dharali were briefly stalled on Sunday morning due to poor weather conditions, officials said on the sixth day of the disaster that struck the hamlet. An XV-5 aircraft was deployed as part of a weather observation flight to assess visibility for safe operations at Dharali. Sorties resumed around 11am, with 78 people airlifted in 29 flights. IG SDRF Arun Mohan Joshi, the appointed incident commander, has been coordinating multi-agency efforts, including running community kitchens serving over 1,600 people since Aug 7 and organising free medical camps. He held coordination meetings with other agencies in Dharali on Sunday and prepared a detailed action plan with a concrete strategy for carrying out the rescue work. "Arrangements have been made for real-time information exchange and joint resource utilisation among all agencies to maximise the speed and effectiveness of the operation," said Joshi. Meanwhile, the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), working to restore road connectivity in the affected area, completed the construction of a bailey bridge at Limchigadh Sunday evening after a vital 25m bridge that connected the road to Harsil was washed away by the Aug 5 flash flood. A senior BRO official told TOI: "Our team worked relentlessly for two nights to set up the bridge. The work was finally completed on Sunday evening despite all odds. The bridge will have a capacity to bear load of up to 24 tonnes. We were supposed to finish the work by 3pm but there was a slight delay due to a shortage of certain parts which were then supplied from Joshimath." The official added that the roads have been significantly damaged in eight more areas, in and around Dharali and Harsil, which are yet to be repaired. "In Dharali, there was 15m-deep muck on the road for about 300m, of which we were able to clear around 190m till Sunday afternoon. In Harsil, nothing much could be done so far as about 600m of road stretch remains submerged in a lake formed after the disaster. Similarly, in Bhatwari, on the way to Harsil, a 200m stretch of road was washed away," he said. Moreover, as the rescue operation entered its sixth day, the administration deployed extensive medical, transport and engineering resources. Medical teams, including specialists, have been stationed in Dharali, Harsil, Malti and Uttarkashi district hospital, with 294 beds — including 65 ICU beds — kept ready. Fourteen injured have been treated so far, with three of them referred to AIIMS Rishikesh. The transport department has mobilised 110 vehicles, while heavy machinery at Dharali includes five JCBs, three excavators, two dozers and 10 tippers. NDRF teams are using VSAT cameras, life detectors and thermal cutting tools; and two bodies have been recovered so far. Relief efforts continue by air, with food packets, blankets, medicines and livestock fodder delivered. BSNL mobile services in Harsil were restored via satellite on Saturday, and electricity from Maneri to Dharali had been re-established. The Aug 5 flash flood and heavy rains triggered massive debris flow in Dharali and Harsil, flattening homes and infrastructure. Officials said that focus will now be on restoring full road connectivity. A team from UJVNL (Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited) has also reached Harsil to drain out the artificial lake which had formed on the Bhagirathi after the deluge. Stay updated with the latest local news from your city on Times of India (TOI). Check upcoming bank holidays , public holidays , and current gold rates and silver prices in your area.
India Today
a day ago
- India Today
Video: Army builds 90-ft Bailey bridge in Uttarkashi to reconnect flood-hit areas
The Indian Army, in a swift mission in the cloudburst-hit Dharali area of Uttarakhand, has constructed a crucial Bailey bridge, restoring connectivity to cut-off regions and facilitating the transport of rescue teams and relief supplies to stranded bridge, built jointly by the Army and the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) after an overnight operation, now awaits the construction of approach roads to allow vehicles to reach Dharali, where four people were killed, and scores remain missing and stranded after a flash flood washed away the village days along the Gangotri National Highway, the Bailey bridge spans the Limchagad between Gangnani and Dharali. With a load capacity of nearly 50 tonnes, it is expected to significantly aid rescue operations in the challenging Himalayan terrain. 'It is a 90-foot triple-single Bailey bridge. The work is almost complete, with only minor finishing tasks pending, which will be done shortly,' BRO Commander KVN Raja Kumar told India Today at the site, just before construction was Secretary Shailesh Bagauli said that until the approach roads are repaired, horses and mules should be used to transport essential supplies to the affected villages. He has also directed officials to ensure the supply of 2,000 litres of diesel per day to Dharali and to facilitate the delivery of LPG cylinders to those impacted. Authorities are also clearing blockages along the highway at Songad, Dabrani, Harsil, and Dharali on a war footing. However, heavy rains on Sunday morning hampered helicopter evacuations of stranded evacuation efforts began on Wednesday, more than 1,000 people had been airlifted by Saturday evening from around Dharali and Harsil, where an Army camp also suffered damage in the flash floods, leaving nine personnel missing.- EndsInputs by Anjilee Istwal in DharaliTune InMust Watch IN THIS STORY#Uttarakhand
The Hindu
2 days ago
- The Hindu
287 more rescued as government deploys 4 choppers to evacuate people stranded in disaster-hit Uttarkashi
Four helicopters were pressed into service to airlift people stranded in Uttarakhand's Uttarkashi following flash floods and landslides earlier this week which claimed multiple lives and left behind a trail of destruction. On the fifth day of rescue operations on Saturday, 170 people were airlifted to ITBP's Matli helipad and 107 to the airstrip at Chinyalisaur, Uttarakhand Police said. According to official data, more than 1,000 people have been evacuated so far from parts of the disaster-hit Dharali area which are still cut off following mudslide and flash floods on Tuesday. The district administration has confirmed four deaths and 49 people are missing since the disaster. Four helicopters of Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Authority are making sorties to rescue people who have taken shelter in various locations of the district. The Indian Air Force's Chinook helicopter transporting a generator set to the relief camp took off from the Jollygrant airport on Saturday morning. Power supply to Dharali and surrounding areas was badly hit by the flash floods. A Bailey bridge is being constructed at Limchigad near Gangnani on a war footing to improve road connectivity to the affected areas. Work on its construction went on overnight so that it is ready in the next 24 hours. The Gangotri highway is either blocked or breached at several points hampering efforts to transport advanced equipment required to search for the missing through tonnes of debris lying on the flash flood-ravaged site.
