Early restoration of damaged roads, power lines priority: Uttarakhand CM Dhami

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Wednesday stressed that his government was prioritising restoring road and power connectivity and repairing damaged infrastructure, as rehabilitation work picked up pace a day after rains ravaged the state.

Cloudbursts and heavy rains overnight left a trail of destruction in Uttarakhand's capital, Dehradun and several other parts of the state on Tuesday as swollen rivers washed away buildings, roads and bridges, leaving 15 people dead, 16 missing, and 900 stranded in different locations in the hill state.

"Our effort is to repair the damaged infrastructure and restore road and power connectivity at the earliest," Dhami said while highlighting that 85 per cent of the damaged power lines have been restored and the rest will also be done in a day or two," he said.

"I have spoken to the BRO DG. The Narendra Nagar-Tehri road will also be repaired soon," Dhami said while pointing out that about 1,000 stranded people have been rescued.

More than 10 roads and bridges were damaged in the calamity, at least five of them very badly, in which entire stretches were washed out, Disaster Management Secretary Vinod Kumar Suman said.

Areas that suffered maximum damage included Sahastradhara, Premnagar, Mussoorie, Narendra Nagar, Pauri, Pithoragarh and Nainital.