Kinnaur landslide : Road blocked, tourists stuck beyond Sangla

Bhanu P Lohumi

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Tribune News Service

Shimla, July 25

A large number of tourists were stranded beyond Batseri on the Sangla-Chitkul road in Kinnaur after the road was blocked following falling of big boulders triggered by a landslide today. A bridge, a house and some vehicles were also damaged. Chitkul is the last village and there is no alternative road. The commuters can leave after the road is clear.

“We have started the clearing work but sliding is still on and we cannot open the road until it is safe to travel. The strata is loose and stones are still rolling in the 200-300-metre stretch. The road will be opened after the Public Works Department will give approval, said Deputy Commissioner, Kinnaur, Abid Hussain Sadiq.

Some tourists were stuck but they did not know the exact number, he said, adding that the district administration had issued an advisory, urging people not to go beyond Sangla.

Travel risky, stones still rolling down

Clearing work is on but we cannot open the road until it is safe to travel. The strata is loose and stones are still rolling down. The road will be opened after PWD nod. — Abid Hussain Sadiq, dc, kinnaur

The stretches beyond Powari, Urni Dhank and Sangla-Chitkul road are most susceptible to landslides as the hills are fragile. The focus of the government is on tourism as a result a lage number of vehicles and tourists visit the interior areas without taking precautions.

The squeezing green cover due to felling of trees in the name of development, construction of roads, tunnels and hydropower projects in Kinnaur district has made the hills more vulnerable to slides, claiming human lives and causing massive damage to property year after year.

An Army jawan died on the spot after he was hit by a shooting stone near Lal Dhank on the Chitkul-Rani Kanda route in the Sangla valley on July 17, 2016. He was on a patrolling duty along the Indo-Tibet border to set up a base camp. Another man was killed when a shooting stone fell on a car at Bhaira Khud near Rampur on August 1, 2017.

Massive landsslips in Himachal

Maling (1968): Rolling boulders damaged a 1-km stretch in Kinnaur 

Kinnaur (1982): Three bridges collapsed at Sholding Nullah and 1.5 km of road caved in

Jhakri (1989): At Nathpa, a 500-m stretch was damaged in Rampur

Luggarhatti (1995): 39 persons were buried alive in Kullu district