Chardham Yatra has been stopped for 24 hours after a warning of extremely heavy rain was issued in Uttarakhand. Heavy rain alert has been issued in many districts of Uttarakhand from 29 June to 1 July. The Meteorological Department has especially issued a red alert for 29 June and 1 July. There have already been a lot of landslides due to rain here. Due to this, many people have also lost their lives. Some people are still missing, whose search is going on. In such a situation, in view of the heavy rain alert, Chardham Yatra has been stopped for the next 24 hours as a precaution.

The Meteorological Department has warned of heavy rain till July 1. The risk of landslides increases when there is heavy rain. Roads get closed due to landslides or floods and devotees get trapped in the mountains. The Yatra may be stopped again if there is more rain and landslides in the coming days.

What did the Divisional Commissioner say?

Garhwal Division Commissioner Vinay Shankar Pandey said, "Keeping in mind the warning of heavy rain, the Char Dham Yatra has been postponed for the next 24 hours. Police and administration officials have been instructed to stop pilgrims in Haridwar, Rishikesh, Srinagar, Rudraprayag, Sonprayag and Vikasnagar." The Yatra is expected to resume when the weather becomes normal. However, the weather may remain bad here for the next three days.

Cloudburst in Uttarkashi

Amidst continuous rain, eight to nine workers went missing due to cloudburst near Silai Band between Paligad and Ojri Dabarkot in Barkot area on the Yamunotri National Highway in Uttarkashi district. Officials said here that as soon as the information about the incident that happened after 12 midnight on Saturday was received, the police, administration, State Disaster Response Force and other agencies have started relief and rescue work. Barkot police station in-charge Deepak Kathet said that some labourers engaged in road construction were living there in tents and were swept away when there was a heavy flood during the cloudburst. He said that eight to nine people are reported missing, for whose search a campaign has been started. All these labourers are said to be of Nepali origin.

Yamunatri Highway closed

After the cloudburst, apart from Silai Band, Yamunotri Highway is closed at two to three other places, which the National Highway team is trying to open. At the same time, road connectivity has been lost near Ojri. According to the information received from the District Disaster Control Office, the water level of Yamuna river has also increased due to continuous rain, while in Syanachatti also the Kupda Kunshala Trikhili motor bridge has come under threat. It has been said in the information that in Kuthnaur also, due to heavy rains and cloudburst, there is news of damage to the agricultural land of local villagers and debris has filled the fields. However, there is no report of any loss of life or animal in Kuthnaur at present.