Adi Kailash second phase held to 20 September after Kulagad bridge washes out again
Dharchula SDM Ashish Joshi said Inner Line Permits will resume on a tentative date of 20 September. BRO is rebuilding the Bailey bridge. The Army has marked an alternative track.
Pithoragarh2 min read
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The second phase of the Adi Kailash yatra in Pithoragarh district will not start on 15 September as planned. Officials postponed it to 20 September after rain and a second washout of the Bailey bridge near Kulagad on the Dharchula-Gunji road.
Dharchula Sub-Divisional Magistrate Ashish Joshi said Inner Line Permits for the pilgrimage would start again on 20 September, and that the date was still tentative. The district will open the route only after weather and transport look safe. The Border Roads Organisation has begun rebuilding the bridge. The Army has prepared an alternative track into the high valleys.
The Kulagad Bailey bridge went out on the night of 11 September when the river rose, the second time in two weeks. That cut road and foot access to the Vyas, Darma and Chaudas valleys. Locals and some stranded pilgrims have been crossing on stairs and ropes. Most travellers stopped rather than take that crossing. Additional District Magistrate Yogendra Singh inspected the site on Sunday and told BRO officers to speed the new span. Bridge parts had started to arrive. Work was due to begin Sunday morning.
The Pithoragarh administration had already stopped issuing Inner Line Permits for Adi Kailash from 2 July, citing monsoon landslides. The first phase of the season ran in a narrower weather window. The second phase was the batch that hotels, porters and taxi unions in Dharchula had been waiting to restart. A five-day slip, if it holds, still leaves a short autumn window before snow closes the high road.
Adi Kailash and nearby Om Parvat sit close to the India-Tibet line. The road is a pilgrim route and a military road. Joshi's delay is a safety call. It is also a reminder that one Bailey bridge is the hinge for three valleys. When it goes out twice in a fortnight, the BRO rebuild and the Army's alternative track are the only way people and stores move until the span is back.
Pilgrims who already hold later dates should treat 20 September as a gate, not a promise. Permits start then if the district says the road is usable. If the river takes the next temporary span, the date moves again. For Dharchula's operators the useful number is simpler. There is no official movement on the Gunji road until the SDM says so.
