Landslides, flash floods damage roads in Uttarakhand

Widespread landslides and flash floods triggered by last week's torrential rains in Uttarakhand have cut off large parts of the Himalayan state and left hundreds of tourists and pilgrims stranded, including on the Mansarovar route. The landslides and flash floods have claimed at least 68 lives since Sunday. As many as 170 major and minor roads have been severely damaged, leading to complete disruption of traffic in the mountainous districts of Chamoli, Uttarkashi, Bageshwar, Nainital, Almora, Tehri Garhwal and Pithoragarh districts. Even the main road connecting the plains to the popular hill station Nainital is closed to traffic, while the Delhi-Dehradun and Mussoorie route is also badly damaged. Hundreds of tourists and pilgrims are stranded in different places including the Mansarovar route. "Several Mansarovar tourists were halted in Pithoragarh and advised not to proceed further. A bus carrying foreign pilgrims on the 'char dham' yatra (four pilgrimages) was stranded in Uttarkashi for the past three days," an official said.

However, there was some respite for a large number of villages downstream of Tehri dam on account of absence of any heavy downpour upstream since Monday. Earlier, the rising waters of the gigantic reservoir of Tehri dam had already submerged or inundated a large number of low-lying villages in Uttar Kashi district. According to an official spokesman, "despite no rain for the past four days, the level of the Tehri dam had not gone below the danger mark of 830 metres." While both power and drinking water supply was adversely affected in large parts of the hilly districts, extensive damage to crop was reported in the rich vast plains across Udham Singh Nagar and Haridwar districts.

The state which draws lakhs of tourists every year from different corners of the country and abroad to the popular pilgrimage centres - Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri - was now being avoided by them. "Not a single tourist has been able to come to any of these places over the past one week since rains have caused deep cracks and washed away parts of key roads in the region," a senior official of the state tourism department told.

According to a spokesman of the state disaster management department, "only three major roads functional at the moment are Dehradun-New Tehri, Pratap Nagar-Peepal Pani and Rishikesh-New Tehri." The scene in the interior and far-flung areas was much worse as disruption of movement on the roads had seriously affected the supply of essential commodities, including fuel, vegetables, and even bread. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has urged the central government to provide a special assistance package of Rs.21,000 crore to enable the flood-ravaged state to spring back to its feet. As many as 172 people have been reported dead and 68 missing since the outbreak of the current monsoon in June.

Uttarakhand September 2010 news update

Kumar new CS

Subhash Kumar, an IAS officer of 1977 batch, on Monday took over as new chief secretary of the hill state of Uttarakhand. Fiftysix-year-old Kumar succeeded N.S. Napalchyal who took voluntary retirement one-and-a-half-month before expiry of his extended tenure on October 31 this year. Kumar, till recently additional chief secretary, is the 8th chief secretary of the state.

Chief minister Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank last night took the decision to appoint Kumar as chief secretary, officials said. After taking over as chief secretary, Kumar said his top priority was to achieve targets fixed by his predecessors. He said he would strive hard to strengthen the disaster management network in view of widespread rains across the state this season. Napalchyal has been nominated as principal advisor to the state -planning commission. He is also being tipped as next Uttarakhand chief information commissioner.

Sikhs' procession from Delhi to Haridwar

Members of the Sikh community will take out a procession from Delhi to Haridwar later this month seeking re-allocation of land on the banks of the Ganga where a Sikh shrine was allegedly destroyed. Various Sikh organisations under the banner of All India Sikh Conference (Babbar) are demanding that land opposite Har Ki Pauri in Haridwar where the Gyan Godari Sahib Gurudwara existed should be re-allocated to them, president of the conference Gurcharan Singh Babbar said.

Babbar claimed that proof of the existence of the Sikh shrine 400 years ago is available in the revenue records of the then government. "There is ample evidence that the Gurudwara was there adjacent to holy Ganga, but was later destroyed in the 80s and shops were constructed in the area," he said.

Rejecting the Uttarakhand government's offer to allot alternative land to establish a Gurudwara in Haridwar, Babbar said, "If the government is keen to allot alternative land for establishing the Gurudwara which once existed, then there should be the same criteria as in case of Ram temple and Babri Masjid."

The procession will commence from Gurudwara Rakab Ganj in the national capital on September 22 and will converge at Haridwar. Activists of several organisations, including radicals Damdami Taksal and Sant Samaj, will also be part of the procession, he said.

Northern Ganga canal reopens

Northern Ganga canal, whose closure last week had affected power generation in various states, was reopened on Wednesday. Besides power generation, the canal also caters to irrigation needs of agricultural lands in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. The canal was closed after farmers refused to take water from it following heavy rains as this led to crop damage, executive engineer (Ganga Canal) K.P. Singh said. Power generation in various projects at Haridwar, Roorkee, Muzaffarnagar, Muradnagar, Aligarh and Allahabad was disrupted due to its closure.

Alaknanda project work suspended

Uttarakhand government has temporarily suspended the work on the 330-MW Alaknanda hydropower project under pressure from local activists, who have opposed it as its reservoir will submerge the famous Dhari Devi temple.

The state government has also constituted a high-power committee headed by Garhwal commissioner to look into the demands of the people and directed it to submit a report within a fortnight's time, officials sources said. The work on hydel project, being built on Alaknanda river near Srinagar town of Pauri district by GVK Infrastructure Company, has been suspended for nearly two weeks, they said.

The activists from ABVP, VHP, Mahila Vikas Samiti and Sanyukta Utthan Samiti led by senior BJP leader Mohan Singh Gaonwasi have been agitating in the area for the past three months to press for their demands, including not to increase the height of dam beyond 63 metres to prevent the submergence of the Siddhapeeth Dhari Devi temple and provide employment to affected families.