Class 12 student Anoop Chauhan from Uttarkashi’s Kupra has not gone to school in two months. Balendra Singh’s potato harvest has been delayed. A woman had to be carried on a palanquin for 16 kilometres before she could get a vehicle to reach the hospital for childbirth. All these are residents of Kunsala, Kupra, and Trikhali in Uttarkashi – areas that have been isolated after a bridge connecting them to the Yamunotri Highway was washed away following a landslide on June 28.
Chauhan last visited his school on June 27. The government inter-college Ranachatti, 12 km from the village of Kupra, hosts students from 13 villages. “With the rains disrupting travel and landslides sweeping away roads, students from only three villages can access the school now. Less than half of the syllabus has been taught so far. Pre-boards are scheduled for February and Boards in March; there is little clarity on the future,” he says.
The students in the district have a winter vacation starting December 25 till the first week of February. “What can be taught in the next three months to help us prepare for the exams?” Chauhan asks. This is the condition of around 60 students from classes 8 to 12 in the region.
Uttarakhand continues to witness heavy rainfall and increased water levels in rivers. At Kuthnaur in Uttarkashi, the Yamuna has risen to 1427.61 metres, a little above the danger mark of 1427.5 metres.
A red alert is in effect in the districts of Dehradun, Tehri, Pauri Garhwal, Bageshwar, Champawat, Nainital, Udham Singh Nagar, and Haridwar. Extremely heavy rain and thunderstorms accompanied by lightning are forecast at a few places in these districts. Heavy to very-heavy rain or a very intense to extremely intense spell of rain is forecast in Uttarkashi, which is one of the worst-hit areas.
A risky route
In Trikhali, the bridge connects the village to the highway, which has also been struck by multiple landslides, says Manmohan Rana, a resident. A narrow portion remains, on which people tread to get essential supplies like rations. People carry supplies on their backs when they venture in and out, but it is a risky route as the bridge is over 40 feet high, under which flows the Yamuna. Singh says bulldozers are deployed to remove the blockages in the highway. “It might take a week for them to get to our bridge to start the repairs. However, the uncertainty over the lake formed in the Yamuna makes the situation more urgent,” Rana says.
The artificial lake formed in the Yamuna River at Syanachatti on the Yamunotri Highway has inundated the bridge on NH-34, and the water level has been rising since Sunday night. It lies around 3 km away from the three villages. While personnel are at work to drain the lake, unrelenting rain and the increased incidence of debris slides have posed significant challenges to the team. The water in the region has risen, leaving the villages at risk of flooding. “The responders are at work day and night, but more debris comes in and blocks the flow of the river. If the rain fails to cease, we might stare at an unprecedented disaster,” says Rana.
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Lives and livelihoods at stake
On July 1, a woman facing contractions of childbirth had to be taken on a palanquin for 16 km. “Most roads had been washed away, and we had to climb down a hill to hail a vehicle. With a few roads repaired, this distance is now 7 km,” Rana says. However, what leaves the villagers more anxious is the prospect of their potato harvest.
The harvest is expected to start in the first week of September. The three villages produce potatoes worth Rs 1.5 crore every year, but this year, they have little hope of securing a good price. Balendra Singh, a farmer, says they have requested the government to set an appropriate minimum support price for the produce.
“Potatoes are semi-perishables and cannot survive long without adequate infrastructure. The villages currently do not have any. If we delay the harvest, further rain will ruin the crop. We are already anticipating a reduction in quality because of the heavy rainfall this season,” says Singh. The market price for a quintal of potatoes is Rs 2,400, while the rate at which the government procured it last year was Rs 2,000-2,200. “We are negotiating that these prices are increased,” Singh says.
Singh says Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami visited Syanachatti, eight kilometres away, and had taken note of the bridge in the locality, too. “But why did it take three months for them to notice this. Only when the lake was informed in Syanachatti, flooding the houses and market, did the government take cognisance,” he says.
