Badrinath road cracks being sealed even as Char Dham Yatra begins

Tribune News Service

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, April 22

The government has engaged a top institute to undertake risk assessment of the Joshimath hillslope and road located along the only approach route that leads to Badrinath Dham even as the Char Dham Yatra began today.

The Border Roads Organisation, in charge of maintaining the yatra route, recently wrote to CSIR’s (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research) Central Building Research Institute (CBRI), Roorkee, to assess cracks along the Joshimath section of the Badrinath national highway and seal these as a short-term measure to ensure safety of the Char Dham pilgrims using the approach road to Badrinath.

The sole route to Badrinath passes through Joshimath. This road witnessed a heavy pilgrim footfall of 16 lakh in the previous yatra season.

This year, the Uttarakhand Government is expecting 45 lakh pilgrims in the Char Dham Yatra. Top sources told The Tribune that scientists of CSIR institutes — CBRI and National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad — are working overtime to ensure safety of the subsidence-hit Joshimath hillslope and the road section leading to Badrinath that has developed cracks at seven to eight points.

Entire Joshimath was in January declared a landslide-subsidence zone and families living in the area shifted to temporary shelters.

A senior scientist involved with securing the Char Dham Yatra road to Badrinath today said a ground-penetrating radar survey was being conducted for the risk assessment of the area in the wake of heavy anticipated vehicular traffic flow during the Char Dham Yatra.

“We have been told to secure the Joshimath road and the hillslope until April 26,” he said.

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