Ahmedabad

Latest at Mount Abu

– Uprooting of trees has continued in last three days.

– District collector has appealed visitors that in such situation vehicular traffic is not likely to be normalized for one week.

The travel bookings for Mount Abu, one of the most favourite tourist destinations and a quick ‘weekend stress buster’ of Gujaratis especially Amdavadis, have dipped to zero following heavy rains in and around the hill station in neighbouring Rajasthan earlier this week.

Those Abu lovers, who prefer to drive their own vehicles through a 230 km road journey, are also unable to make it.

‘The main problem is that owing to landslide the 22 km long hilly road between Abu Road and Mt. Abu is closed. For now one can travel up to Abu road only. We have not received even a single bus or car booking for Abu since the July 27-28 rains wreaked havoc there,’ Mr. Ketanbhai Soni, the MD of travel company Dream Holidays in Ahmedabad said today.

‘The approach to Abu from Ahmedabad can be either through Ambaji by a single road or the four lane Palanpur highway. There is no problem with either of them, the whole problem is there in Abu itself,’ he said. Many other city based tour operators also confirmed the ‘zero booking’ for Abu citing similar reasons. However they all said that once the road is cleared the tourist flow from Ahmedabad and rest of Gujarat would quickly normalise as the Amdavadis are seemingly ‘addicted’ to Abu.

Thousands of people at Mount Abu situated in Sirohi district of Rajasthan were stranded amidst heavy rainfall on July 27 and 28. Due to the downpour, the highest in almost two decades, the road connectivity from Mount Abu to Abu Road was badly affected. It rained around 40 inches in 48 hours triggering landslides along the connecting road. Power outage had also caused great inconvenience to the people there.

Prakashbhai Dave, a Ahmedabad based business man who owns a small personal holiday home at Abu Road, said he could not go there this weekend due to the current situation. ‘I along with my wife and two school going daughters visit Mt. Abu twice a month (on weekends) on an average during summers. I stay at my own place. I think I will have to wait at least till next weekend till the things improve there,’ he said.

Meanwhile, a senior official of Sirohi district administration involved in road clearance operation said that the work was on in full swing and efforts were on to open the connect road at the earliest. He declined to give any time frame saying the damage was large scale.

Mount Abu town, the only hill station in Rajasthan, is located at an elevation of 1,220 m (4,003 ft). It has been a popular retreat from the heat of Rajasthan and neighbouring Gujarat for centuries. The mountain is also home to several Hindu and Jain temples, including the Adhar Devi Temple (also known as Arbuda Devi Temple), carved out of solid rock; the Shri Raghunathji Temple; and a shrine and temple to Dattatreya built atop the Guru Shikhar peak and a number of Jain temples including Dilwara Temples a complex of temples carved of white marble that was built between the 11th and 13th centuries AD. It is also the location of the headquarters of the Brahma Kumaris.

– DeshGujarat