Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 24: A 100-metre stretch of the Gauchar-Badrinath highway at Kamera was washed away on Monday following heavy overnight rainfall, disrupting the pilgrimage to the Himalayan temple while at least four persons, including two children, were killed in a house collapse in rain-raved Junagadh city in Gujarat.
An official spokesman said Badrinath national highway has been closed due to a landslide near Kameda Village in Chamoli district. The route will remain closed for Badrinath pilgrims for two-three days, official added. Efforts were underway on war footing to repair and open the route to traffic at the earliest, the official added.
A part of a road also caved in at Bhattnagar near Gauchar and five vehicles parked along the roadside got buried in the debris, the Uttarakhand state emergency operation centre said. The rubble is being cleared, it said, adding no one was hurt in the incident.
In Junagadh, the district collector Anil Ranavasiya said the administration immediately sent NDRF teams and other resources after he received a call from the disaster control room regarding the building collapse at around 1.10pm. Ranavasiya informed that the deceased include two boys and two adult males.
“At around 1:10 pm, I got a call from the disaster Control Room that there is a building collapse on Datar Road, Junagadh. We immediately pulled our NDRF teams & other resources. The rescue operation is still going on. Till now we have recovered four dead bodies and in that, a boy aged 7 years, another boy aged 13 to 14 years, and two adult males aged 35 and 52 have been sent to a civil hospital for necessary postmortem…” the official said.
The authorities are investigating the cause of the collapse.
The state government has announced ₹4 lakh as ex gratia to the next of kin of the victims.
“The incident of the building collapse in Junagadh is very tragic. My heartfelt condolences go out to the relatives of the deceased who lost their lives in this unfortunate event. I pray to God for the peace of the souls of the departed. The state government has provided Rs. 4 lakh in assistance to the bereaved families,” Gujarat chief minister Bhupendra Patel said on Twitter.
Junagadh mayor Gitaben Parmar revealed that the corporation had issued notices to at least 38 such residential societies in Junagadh, urging them to evacuate due to their old and deteriorating state. Citing an example, she mentioned the Satyam society where the residents were asked to vacate and were provided shelter in a safe location by the corporation.