Uttarakhand landslides: Newly elected village head killed in Tehri, debris blocks highway in Rudraprayag

Dehradun: A newly elected village chief was killed while he was on his way to take oath and three people accompanying him were injured following a landslide triggered by heavy rains in Uttarakhand’s Tehri district on Wednesday.

Landslides were reported in various others parts, too, which also led to the blockade of the Badrinath highway near Sirobagad in Rudraprayag district, officials said.

The village chief Pratap Singh (50) and the three others – Arjun Singh (48) and Pushpa Devi (45) and her daughter Nitu (22) – were travelling on the Algad-Thattyud motor road in Jaunpur block when a boulder fell on their car at around 10 am. They were en route to Thattyud for the ceremony to take oath as the Gram Pradhan of Tator village, the officials in New Tehri said.

In Sirogabad, a huge mound of rubble blocked the Badrinath highway. Located between Srinagar and Rudraprayag, the region is highly vulnerable to landslides.

The debris blocking the highway is being cleared and traffic along the route has been diverted, Rudraprayag District Disaster Management Officer Nandan Singh Parihar said.

Various parts of Uttarakhand, including Dehradun, were lashed by heavy rains on Wednesday, with Uttarkashi receiving 44.5 mm, Bageshwar 32.3 mm and Dehradun 21.5 mm rain.

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