At least 300 tourists and pilgrims were stranded on Thursday in a remote region in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand after a mountain road was damaged by a landslide.
The road was cut off near Lakhanpur in Pithoragarh district of the northern state, leaving hundreds of tourists stranded in the remote Dharchula and Gunji area – the picturesque villages on the border with Nepal.
Authorities said that about 100m of Lipulekh-Tawaghat, a key road at an elevation 5,191m that connects India with Tibet and Nepal, and India’s remote villages to the rest of the country, crumbled after a large section of hillside collapsed.
“The road is still blocked but we are opening it so people can use it by foot. There are teams of disaster response forces. We are working round the clock to repair the road but we can expect it to open completely in two days,” Bhupendra Mahar, district disaster management officer, told The National.
Mr Mahar said that the stranded people included tourists and pilgrims returning to Kailash Mansarover, the famous pilgrimage for Hindus, Buddhists and Jains, in Tibet's Autonomous Region.
Every year, devotees from India are given permission to visit the holy mountain.
Authorities have issued an advisory and asked all the pilgrims to stay in safe places, Mr Mahar said.
Landslides are a common occurrence in the mountainous and hilly regions during monsoon season that begins from June.
Several parts of the country are experiencing widespread showers with the weather agency issuing warnings for the southern state of Kerala.
Monsoons enter India from the coastal state in the first week of June and then gradually move north-west covering the entire subcontinent over the next three months.
The period is extremely significant for India’s economy because the whole country receives about 75 per cent of its annual rainfall during this period.
The capital Delhi too has received copious amounts of rainfall this year – about 186 per cent more than usual. This year it recorded the coldest May in 36 years.
THE BIO
Favourite book: ‘Purpose Driven Life’ by Rick Warren
Favourite travel destination: Switzerland
Hobbies: Travelling and following motivational speeches and speakers
Favourite place in UAE: Dubai Museum
Credits
Produced by: Colour Yellow Productions and Eros Now
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Cast: Sonakshi Sinha, Jimmy Sheirgill, Jassi Gill, Piyush Mishra, Diana Penty, Aparshakti Khurrana
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EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years
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The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
The candidates
Dr Ayham Ammora, scientist and business executive
Ali Azeem, business leader
Tony Booth, professor of education
Lord Browne, former BP chief executive
Dr Mohamed El-Erian, economist
Professor Wyn Evans, astrophysicist
Dr Mark Mann, scientist
Gina MIller, anti-Brexit campaigner
Lord Smith, former Cabinet minister
Sandi Toksvig, broadcaster
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Dust and sand storms compared
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Dust storm
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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Thu Aug 30: UAE v Nepal, Hong Kong v Singapore, Malaysia v Oman
Sat Sep 1: UAE v Hong Kong, Oman v Singapore, Malaysia v Nepal
Sun Sep 2: Hong Kong v Oman, Malaysia v UAE, Nepal v Singapore
Tue Sep 4: Malaysia v Singapore, UAE v Oman, Nepal v Hong Kong
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