Two people were killed after being hit by shooting stones on the Rishikesh-Badrinath highway in Uttarakhand’s Pauri Garhwal district early on Monday, news agency ANI reported citing State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) officials.
Another person is feared trapped under the boulders near the Kaudiyala area of the district, they said according to ANI. More details are awaited.
The Badrinath highway stretch in the Chamoli district was blocked after a landslide near a camp of the Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) late on Sunday, reported news agency ANI.
The operations to clear the debris on the highway in the Gauchar area of the district are underway, according to ANI.
In a video tweeted by the news agency, a group of people can be seen rushing away from the spot where a large amount of debris is seen falling from the adjacent cliff on the highway. There were no immediate reports of any casualties.
On Sunday, a landslide had occurred on the Rishikesh-Badrinath Highway (National Highway 58) near Bayasi in the hill state’s Tehri Garhwal district.
The road from Dehradun to Badrinath, Kedarnath and Yamunotri are blocked at several points with rocks and boulders tumbling down the hill slope following heavy rain.
The Rishikesh-Badrinath highway was blocked in Totaghati in Chamoli, the road to Kedarnath at Jaleshwar Mahadev and the one to Yamunotri at Silai bend in Uttarkashi.
Officials have said more than 100 roads, including four national highways, are still blocked owing to heavy rain in several parts of the state. A stretch of the Badrinath highway has been blocked for the past 20 days, they said.
Over 200 machines have been deployed by the public works department to clear the roads to facilitate smooth traffic movement, according to a report by the department.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall in the state between August 25 and August 28.
