Uttarakhand: Valley of Flowers closed as trek route washed away

DEHRADUN: Valley of Flowers, nestled at about 11,800 ft in the Garhwal Himalayas, was hit by a severe landslide triggered by rains on Saturday, as a result of which huge cracks developed on the trek route inside the valley.


Some stretches of the route were almost completely washed away.

As a result, the Unesco World Heritage Site, known for its alpine flowers and breath-taking natural beauty, has been closed for visitors and will reopen only after landslide treatment is done on the stretch and the cracks are fixed.

Dist admin visits spot to look for stranded tourists
On Sunday, a district administration team visited the site to check for any tourists who may have got stuck in the valley. They took stock of the situation and explored ways to restore connectivity.

"The landslide, which occurred a little ahead of Dwaripul, is recurring in nature. It has a sliding zone and a glacier point. We don't want to take any chances, so all routes leading to the Valley of Flowers have been closed. We have written to senior officials requesting funds for treatment of this patch in order to avoid further slides," said Nand Ballabh Sharma, divisional forest officer (DFO), Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve, which houses the Valley of Flowers.

Meanwhile, workers have been deployed to clear the trek route even as rains and landslides continued to hit the stretch. In an over 1-min long video accessed by TOI on Sunday, a forest guard can be seen walking through the debris, as rain continues to lash the area and mud keeps sliding down the affected stretch. "Big cracks have developed and boulders may fall on visitors at any time. This trek route used to be 10-metre wide but after it rained for nearly 5 hours straight, there's barely enough space left to stand. There's a strong possibility that the rest of the trek route will be washed away too. There's a need for an alternate alignment of the route to ensure smooth movement of visitors," the forest guard can be heard saying in the clip.

The Dwaripul zone, the area near which the landslide has occurred, saw major devastation in the Kedarnath tragedy of 2013. Ever since, it has seen recurrent landslides and is in urgent need of slope treatment.

Incidentally, a few days ago, local residents had expressed concern over the district administration's move to build a helipad at Atlakudi, the buffer zone of the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve located around 13,500 ft. They said that the eco-sensitive zone of Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve couldn't possibly take so much human pressure or commercial activities. However, the administration went ahead with the plan, saying the helipad was for emergency services.


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