An alternate route on Uttarakhand's Dehradun-Ranipokhari-Rishikesh highway built to facilitate movement of people and small vehicles was swept away due to heavy rainfall yesterday night, news agency ANI reported on Tuesday.
According to ANI, the alternate route was built after parts of a bridge over the Jakhan river collapsed on August 27.
Meanwhile, a team of geologists on Monday recommended immediate evacuation of residents from the rain-hit Jumma village and adjoining hamlets in the district after big cracks appeared in houses in the area.
Five people were killed and two others had gone missing after two houses collapsed in Jumma village in the Dharchula area of Pithoragarh district recently.
A team of experts, which visited the village for a geological survey after the incident, has advised authorities to immediately evacuate its residents and those of adjoining areas as they are still in danger.
"The lower part of Nalapani from where the landslide began on August 29 causing the collapse of houses in Jumma is still sliding. Several villages, including Jumma and the adjoining hamlets, are in danger due to this. Residents need to be shifted out of these villages," district geologist Pradeep Kumar who was part of the team told PTI.
The old sliding zone at Joldhunga near Jumma could also become active again, he said. At least 22 families of Jumma and adjoining hamlets are in danger with huge cracks appearing in the houses in which they live, Kumar said. The team of geologists surveyed around eight villages and submitted its report to Pithoragarh District Magistrate Ashish Chauhan, Kumar said.
(With inputs from PTI)
