Uttarakhand monsoon fury: Tale of 5 villages where students cross Gori river in trolley to attend classes

At least 50 students in five villages, including Gharudi, Mankot, Ghaghali, and Bhayala in Uttarakhand's Dharchulla are forced to take risky trips every day to attend school.

India today brings a special report from Uttarakhand's Dharchulla’s five villages where school students have to cross the 120 metres deep Gori river every day on an unsafe trolley.

At a time when the river is inching towards “warning level” and the flow is aggressive, school children get blisters on their palms as they pull the trolley rope to cross over.

At least 50 students in five villages, including Gharudi, Mankot, Ghaghali, and Bhayala are forced to take risky trips every day to attend school.

Children like Piya and Priyanka, living in Gharudi and Mankot villages of Pithoragarh's Dharchulla block, take life-threatening risks every day to attend lessons at school.

First, they walk their way to the river Gori from their villages located on the hillocks and then climb the trolley tower.

Either the PRD jawans or the villagers help them board a basket like a trolley. And then they embark on their dangerous journey to cross the river.

The trolley stops right in the middle of the river and then it needs to be pulled by someone from the other side of the river.