Pithoragarh: A massive landslide at Jauljibi-Dharchula highway near the Indo-China border has caused a blockade on the Kimkhola route in Pithoragarh, authorities said on Thursday. The landslide, triggered by heavy rainfall, also closed the Jauljibi-Tawaghat highway which connects China and Nepal borders with India. "A large number of vehicles and travellers are stranded on the highway due to the blockade," authorities stated.
As the landslide hit the area the connectivity between the Dharchula block headquarters and border areas have been cut off. "Due to the closure of the important highways, the contact with more than 50 thousand people living in the border areas including Dharchula block headquarters has been cut off from the rest of the world," they said. They informed that a part of a hill has collapsed on the Tanakpur-Tawaghat National Highway and this area was already witnessing frequent landslides with the onset of the monsoon season.
Read:| Landslide on Gangotri Highway in Uttarakhand
On getting informed, the teams of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) started the highway restoration work. The BRO officials informed that it may take a little longer time to re-open the route. Notably, the Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand is lashed by incessant rains for the last four days followed by which landslides are disrupting many places. On Thursday, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami also postponed his visit to Pithoragarh due to bad weather and heavy rains.
Earlier, his visits to Rudraprayag, Kedarnath and Chamoli were also cancelled due to torrential rains.
