Road to ‘Adi Kailash’ and ‘Om Parvat’ most accident prone
Road to ‘Adi Kailash’ and ‘Om Parvat’ most accident prone
B.D.Kasniyal
Pithoragarh, Dec 30
The religious pilgrimage destination of ‘Adi Kailash’ and ‘Om Parvat’ in Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand which received a boost following the visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in October this year with over 15000 pilgrims visiting the place needs better safe connectivity as the route from Dharchula to Lipulekh pass are prone to accidents with 15 pilgrims losing their lives on this road in last 80 days time.
In latest such accident, two persons, namely Prem Datt (36) of Garba village and Pushkar Singh Shahi, (55), from Jipti village died after their vehicle fell into deep gorge near Garbadhar. “This is 3ed accident on this road in last 80 days time, as 11 passengers have died on this road in accidents which happened on October 8, and October 24, killing 7 and 4 persons in these accidents, respectively,” said Shalu Datal, a local resident in Dharchula.
The deceased were local villagers as ‘Adi Kailash yatra’ is closed from November 15, due to heavy snow deposits on Gunji – Jolingkong route to ‘Adi Kailash’.
“The Prime Minister’s visit to ‘Adi Kailash’ on October 12, this year, gave a boost to the ‘Adi Kailash’ pilgrimage with an increase of ten percent reported inthe last month of pilgrimage,” said Dhan Singh Bisht, incharge of Kumoan Mandal Vikas Nigam (KMVN) base camp for the yatra at Dharchula.
The road to ‘Adi Kailash’ is in the process of widening to make it a two lane road up to Lipulekh, the last security post on the Indo- China border in the area. “This road needs cautious sign boards on way from Tawaghat to Gunji informing the drivers about sensitive places of landslide prone areas as frequent landslides occur on the road.”The accident that took place on October 8, killing seven persons, could have be averted had the driver taken cognizance of falling soil from above at accident spot but he could not do so as there was no such cautious sign board,” said Dhan Singh, the KMVN official.
The locals have also complained that since the road is still incomplete, the deceased in the accidents on the Tawaghat to Lipulekh pass road do not get insurance claims. ” If the border region of Vyans valley is to get a boost ‘Adi Kailash yatra’ and other tourist activities planned by Union government, this road be passed for general vehicles traffic to give insurance security cover for deceased in accidents,” said Shalu Datal, a resident of Dharchula town.
