A view of the road cutting towards Bhowali village done in 2012
A panoramic view of the new road cutting on the bye pass to Kainchi Dham from Bhowali Sanatorium as on June, 2026
Every
year I visit my home in Ranikhet region of Uttarakhand during the summers.Accordingly, this year too I planned my visit
in June, 2026 but due some official pre-engagement, I had to shift my visit to
second week of June, 2026 and to be precise, I planned my visit on 13th June,
2026.There is a very famous shrine of
Baba Neem Karoli Baba en-route Ranikhet from Haldwani/Kathgodam and even during
normal weekends it is packed with pilgrims and vehicles.This shrine has a special significance for
15th of June every year, as it is the foundation day of the shrine.There is so high influx of pilgrims and
tourists that the Government has to impose restrictions for visit during the
said days.I had presumed that the
restrictions would kick in only a day earlier than the scheduled mela/fair as
per the usual practice and had accordingly planned and purchased ticket for
early morning Shatabdi train for 13th June, 2026 that would reach Kathgodam by
mid-day of the same date and thereafter, travel for about 90 Kms. or so by taxi
to my home.
Panoramic view of Bhowali village in 2012
Panoramic view of Bhowali village in June, 2026
I
reached New Delhi Railway station early in the morning well in time and boarded
the train.I had a fixed driver who
usually ferried me from Kathgodam to my home in Ranikhet region and I had
already informed him beforehand and he had also acknowledged the same.By the time I reached Haldwani, I rang him up
to inform him about my imminent arrival in Kathgodam, but his phone god disengaged
every time I tried to dial his number.Since, I had another number, I rang up with it and his phone rang but he
did not respond and thereafter, switched off his mobile.It can be appreciated that a person may get
pre-occupied with some other work, but courtesy requires that he informed me
about it beforehand.So I had to talk to
another person from my village, who operates his own taxis and he provided me
with an alternate number of another driver and he willingly agreed to pick me
up from Haldwani itself.Having tied up
with the new driver, I alighted from the train at Haldwani station itself and
got onto his taxi for our onward journey to Ranikhet.The driver informed me that he stays in
Ranikhet and hence it was his regular route.However, on the way he informed me that this year the road restrictions
on Kainchi Dham route had kicked in two days in advance rather than usual one
day in advance.Although the usual choke
point of Nainital entry point was normal and we got past it without much ado,
however, just as we reached Bhowali sanatorium region, there as a traffic jam,
as the traffic was being diverted and we took the chance of going through the
newly constructed bye-pass to Kainchi dham rather than the circuitous route
through Mukteshwar-Almora-Ranikhet route that had been decided by the
authorities.
Panoramic view from Chorsa village in 2012 when it was not connected by road
View of Chorsa village in June, 2026 as the road passes through it
The
usual distance from Bhowali to Kainchi Dham through the regular route is about
8-9 Kms., however, the length of newly constructed bye-pass from Bhowali
sanatorium is about 18 Kms.The first
twelve kilometers of this new route was properly paved, but beyond that the
road is unpaved and uneven, a little rain can severely constrict movement
across this road.I had last traversed
through this road way back in 2012, when we were offered a piece of land in a
place called Chorsa village on this route, but as the road had not been
constructed properly by then, the bunch of friends had decided to traverse this
kuchha road of about 8-10 Kms. by foot and we had sent out taxi to Garam Pani
to wait for our descent.The condition
of the road then was so atrocious that we had called off the plan to buy land
in Chorsa village as we did not want to get struck with no means of transport
to the village and it is only recently that the road has been developed.I have some old photographs and hence have
posted them as then and now photos.Beyond the initial paved 12 Kilometers stretch, the road was so bad that
the remaining six odd kilometers took almost one and a half hours to
traverse.I have placed a link to a
short video for the viewers to evaluate the conditions themselves.The remainder of the journey was without any
further hiccups and we reached my home well in time.
Finally reached my home - view of my garden
Panoramic view of valley with Ranikhet in view across the valley from my home
View of Soni village - shot from a view point about 700 meters from my residence
Here is a short video of the
road from Bhowali sanatorium-
*Note - all the recent photographs have been shot using my mobile phone camera and hence the quality may lag a little.
