Dehradun: The Badrinath Highway has been blocked on Thursday morning due to debris and boulders coming into the Pagal Nala. Due to this, the pilgrimage to Badrinath Dham and Hemkund Sahib has been stalled. The yatra will begin when the Badrinath Highway opens. The work of opening the highway is still going on. At the same time, 40 roads in rural areas of Chamoli district have been blocked due to heavy rains. The villagers have to measure a long distance to reach the village. At the same time, due to the closure of roads, sick and school students are facing problems in movement.
With the same Allweather Road project, the Badrinath Highway has become easier at many places, but the highway in Pagal Nala is still bad. It is only after light rain here that debris is coming on the highway, which is disrupting traffic. There are still boulders stuck in the drain here which can damage the highway anytime. Under the Allweather Road project, NHIDCL has proposed to construct a bridge at Pagal Nala but no action has been taken on the proposal so far. The Pagal Nala located at a distance of about 9 km from Pipalkoti is located near Tangni village. There have been landslides since 2016. Then the highway was with the Border Roads Organisation (BRO).
The BRO dumped the debris from the drain in the fields of Tangni village to smoothen the highway. Now, these fields are also in the grip of landslides. Even if there is light rain here, debris and boulders are coming into the Pagal Nala. Due to the blocking of highways, there is a problem in the movement of army, pilgrims and local people. Devendra Singh Negi, a former zila panchayat member, says that for six years, there has been no permanent solution to the Pagal Nala. In the high Himalayan areas, when it is a year, the water in the drains increases, which fills up the debris on the highway. Earlier, BRO and now NHIDCL (National Highways and Infrastructure Development) have spent crores of rupees only on removing debris here. Here, NHIDCL manager Sandeep Karki says that a nearly 300-metre-long bridge will be set up in the Pagal Nala. Its DPR is being prepared. It will take 6 months. He said that the construction of the bridge will start in the month of January next year.
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