DEHRADUN: The Joshimath-Malari-Niti national highway (NH107-B), which connects to the Indo-China border, opened late on Sunday after remaining blocked for vehicular movement since Friday due to recurring landslides near Lata village, about 26 km from Joshimath.
As a result of the landslides, traffic on the strategic route was severely impacted, particularly restricting the movement of defence vehicles belonging to the Indian Army and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).
Chamoli district‘s disaster management officer, Nand Kishore Joshi, said, “The road, which was blocked since Friday, was marginally opened for pedestrians and small vehicles on Sunday afternoon and subsequently opened for heavy vehicles, too, late evening.”
Defence vehicles from Army and ITBP had been waiting for the road to clear for the past three days, and supplies to nearly a dozen villages on the China border had been affected, officials said.
Malari village is about 60 km from Joshimath, with Niti located an additional 28 km beyond. The villages that had been cut off included Dronagiri, Garpak, Malari and Gamshali in the Niti Valley.
The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) personnel worked almost round the clock to clear the debris from the road in order to restore traffic, as per officials.
A video which captured the moments when the landslide took place had been widely circulated on social media. In the clip, huge rocks and debris could be seen crashing onto the highway.
Local resident Ram Singh said that they had been facing severe problems as all supplies were cut off due to recurring landslides near Lata village. “Road widening work in this particular stretch has been leading to more landslides in the area,” he alleged.
As a result of the landslides, traffic on the strategic route was severely impacted, particularly restricting the movement of defence vehicles belonging to the Indian Army and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).
Chamoli district‘s disaster management officer, Nand Kishore Joshi, said, “The road, which was blocked since Friday, was marginally opened for pedestrians and small vehicles on Sunday afternoon and subsequently opened for heavy vehicles, too, late evening.”
Defence vehicles from Army and ITBP had been waiting for the road to clear for the past three days, and supplies to nearly a dozen villages on the China border had been affected, officials said.
Malari village is about 60 km from Joshimath, with Niti located an additional 28 km beyond. The villages that had been cut off included Dronagiri, Garpak, Malari and Gamshali in the Niti Valley.
The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) personnel worked almost round the clock to clear the debris from the road in order to restore traffic, as per officials.
A video which captured the moments when the landslide took place had been widely circulated on social media. In the clip, huge rocks and debris could be seen crashing onto the highway.
Local resident Ram Singh said that they had been facing severe problems as all supplies were cut off due to recurring landslides near Lata village. “Road widening work in this particular stretch has been leading to more landslides in the area,” he alleged.