With landslides hitting Uttarkashi for the 10th consecutive day today, nearly one-fourth of the population has been evacuated. As a precautionary measure, the Gangotri National Highway has been closed to pilgrims and the district administration directed that all schools, colleges and other educational institutions in the town be shut till Sunday. An alternate road bypassing the town has been proposed by the district administration. The Border Roads Organisation would be asked to work on the alternate route, officials said. Union MoS for Home Swami Chinmayanand visited the town today and assured all possible help from the Centre for rehabilitating the displaced persons. He said the Centre would bear 75 per cent of the total cost of rehabilitation. Residents alleged that police beat up people, forcing them to vacate their houses. ‘‘People affected by the calamity were beaten up by police,’’ hotelier Durga Nautiyal told The Indian Express. Meanwhile, the state government, instead of sprucing up the administrative machinery, promoted the local MLA to the rank of a minister. Congress legislator Vijaypal Singh Sajwan was made chairman of the government’s Disaster Management Committee with the rank of a Minister of State.
