Guwahati: District magistrate Abhishek Ruhela gave the order on Thursday to halt all activity in Uttarkashi for the following three days in order to ensure the safety of the hiking and mountaineering teams visiting the area.
These actions are forbidden in Uttarkashi from October 6 to October 8 according to Ruhela.
The DM made his decision after the local meteorological authority issued a warning for the impending rain and snow.
“Intense rainfall period anticipated to commence over Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh from October 5 for subsequent 2-3 days and heavy rainfall spell over most regions of east and northeast India during next 3-4 days,” the India Meteorological Department forecast on Monday.
On Tuesday, a massive avalanche at Draupadi’s Danda-II mountain peak in Uttarkashi struck approximately 41 mountaineers and Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM) trainees.
Earlier in the day, the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), and the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering joined forces to conduct the rescue effort (NIM).
A number of mountaineers were rescued from Base Camp, which is located at an altitude of roughly 12,000 feet, to the Matli helipad with the help of two helicopters that the Indian Air Force had dispatched from Sarsawa and Bareilly.
Four mountaineers perished in an avalanche in Uttarkashi on Tuesday, and several more are still missing. The survivors described their harrowing ordeals on Wednesday.
Deep Thakur, a trainee from Gujarat who survived the accident and is currently receiving treatment at the local hospital, recalled that the avalanche struck suddenly as he and his companions were ascending Draupadi’s Danda Peak for a summit at around 9.45 am. As a result, they all fell into crevasses that were about 60 feet deep, where they struggled for three hours to stay alive.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami announced financial assistance to the families of those killed in the Tuesday tragedies in Pauri Garhwal and Uttarkashi as well as conducted an aerial inspection of the rescue and relief efforts being made to locate the mountaineering trainees who were hit by the avalanche.
“An amount of Rs 2 lakh for deaths, Rs one lakh for serious injuries, and Rs 50,000 for normal injuries will be given to all those affected by these two tragedies,” an official informed.
Along with the tragic avalanche in Uttarkashi, CM Dhami also announced ex-gratia for the Tuesday night accident involving a bus carrying a wedding procession that plunged into a gorge in the Birokhal neighbourhood of Dhumakot in the Pauri-Garhwal district, killing 32 people and injuring more than 20 others.