Reopen Darma valley route via Sobla: Migrants

Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, March 28

Residents of Darma valley have asked the Dharchula subdivisional administration to open the recently blocked Sobla route to their original villages in the high Himalayan reaches before the process of return of migrants begins next month.

They are residing in migration villages in the lower areas of the valley these days. The route to villages in the Darma valley had been damaged at the Sobla market due to the rising water level of the Dhauli, caused by the melting of snow in its basins.

“Due to the melting of glaciers in the higher basins of the river, the water level has increased, causing washing away of temporary pathways and a makeshift bridge at Sobla, which is a key point on the route to villages in the Darma valley,” said Rukum Singh Bisht, zila panchayat member and part of the delegation which reached Dharchula to meet the SDM today.

He said the Sobla route, which remained cut off for 14 months after the 2013 disaster, was reopened in August last year after the river was diverted. “This temporary way to the Darma valley has been closed as the diversion wall has been washed away by the flow. The river has started flowing on its old way due to the increased water and the tributary which joins the Dhauli at this place,” he said.

The delegation demanded the construction of a bridge on the rivulet to make a way to villages in the Darma valley before migration to the original villages began next month.

If the way to villages in the Darma valley was not opened before the time for migration, it would not only affect migration, but ration supply to dozens of villages nearby as well, said members of the delegation who met the Dharchula SDM today.