A hill along the Dharchula-Tawaghat National Highway in Uttarakhand collapsed after a landslide on Friday. The national highway near Zero Point has been closed due to the landslide.
Dozens of vehicles were stuck on both sides. There is no report of any casualty or anyone being trapped under the rubble. Witnesses said no vehicle was passing by that stretch when the hill collapsed. A major accident was averted.
Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami posted about the incident on X and informed that there has been no loss of life. He posted, "It has been reported that traffic has been affected due to a landslide on the Tawaghat-Dharchula National Highway in Pithoragarh district. It is a matter of relief that there has been no loss of life. The district administration and the concerned officials have been instructed to open the road as soon as possible..."
With rampant construction activities, Uttarakhand has become a ticking time bomb for landslides. This year at least 84 lives were lost during the monsoon. Between June 23 and July 10, Uttarakhand dealt with 17 landslides, according to a report by The New Indian Express. By the end of the monsoon, the state saw 292 more landslides.
In the aftermath of the landslides, it was found that 84 people had been killed and 28 were missing. Various districts like Almora, Chamoli, Champawat, Dehradun, Haridwar, Nainital, Pauri Garhwal, Pithoragarh, Rudraprayag, Tehri, Udham Singh Nagar, and Uttarkashi were affected by the landslides this year.
The report further mentioned that 2024 was the year that saw the highest number of landslides since 2018. In 2023, the state saw 1,100 landslides, 245 landslides in 2022, 354 in 2021, 328 in 2020, 254 in 2019, and 2016 in 2018. There were 12,319 landslides, between 1988 and 2023 it said.
(With inputs from Neeraj Mehta, ABP News)