Farmland India
Aerial view of the Bhagirathi valley with terraced farms and deodar forest near Harsil, Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand

District guide

Buying Land in Uttarkashi

High-Himalaya Char Dham district: the 2025 Act's farmland rule, the Bhagirathi Eco-Sensitive Zone, Dharali-type flood risk, the Silkyara tunnel and no sourced prices.

  • ~8,016 sq km

    Area

  • 3.30 lakh

    Population (Census 2011)

  • 4,179.59 sq km

    Bhagirathi Eco-Sensitive Zone

  • None found

    Sourced prices

*Indicative range across districts and land types. Stamp duty, registration and conversion charges are additional. Local measurement units vary — every listing states the unit it is priced in. Not a valuation or an offer.

Bhulekh UK — Uttarakhand Land Records Portal

District land record — Uttarkashi

Rev. 2026 · Farmland India desk

State

Uttarakhand

Administration

Uttarkashi (headquarters) · shares boundaries with Himachal Pradesh and Tibet

Key markets

Uttarkashi town · Barkot · Purola · Harsil · Dharali · Gangotri approach

Demand anchors

Gangotri and Yamunotri pilgrimage · Bhagirathi valley tourism · Char Dham road · trekking and adventure travel

Rail

None in the district; the nearest railheads are Rishikesh and Dehradun (confirm)

Size and population

~8,016 sq km · 3.30 lakh people (Census 2011)

Pricing unit

No sourced price series; hill plots are normally quoted per nali or sq yd

Local units

1 nali = 240 sq yd (Farmland India working figure; local usage varies, read the khatauni)

Land records portal

Bhulekh Uttarakhand (state land records; portal not opened for this page)

District overview

Uttarkashi — the Gangotri and Yamunotri district on the upper Bhagirathi and Yamuna

Uttarkashi is a high-Himalaya district of about 8,016 sq km with 330,086 people at the 2011 Census, a density of 41 per sq km, and six tehsils: Rajgarhi, Bhatwadi, Chinyalisaur, Dunda, Purola and Mori (IndiaStat district data). It shares a boundary with Himachal Pradesh and Tibet. The Bhagirathi rises at Gangotri and the Yamuna at Yamunotri, two of the four Char Dham shrines. For anyone searching for land in Uttarkashi, the first fact is the legal one: the 2025 Act leaves no sanction route for agricultural land outside Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar, and much of the Bhagirathi valley is a regulated eco-sensitive zone.

Visitors arrive through Uttarkashi town, Barkot and Purola on the Yamuna side, and Harsil and Dharali on the way to Gangotri. Dharali is the cautionary example. On 5 August 2025 the Kheer Ganga swept through the village; Down To Earth reported dead and many missing, and Deccan Herald reported the Army rescuing people and a temporary lake forming in the Bhagirathi (Down To Earth, August 2025; Deccan Herald, August 2025). Geologists quoted by Down To Earth say the village stands on silt from an 1835 flood and that houses and homestays had been built in the river’s course. Early reports blamed a cloudburst, although the Met Department recorded only light to moderate rain, so the cause was debated; the buyer lesson is the same either way.

This is a district for informed, patient buyers. We found no price series we can stand behind, so the price table on this page is empty rather than guessed. Pilgrimage and trekking traffic supports homestays and small lodges, but the Bhagirathi eco-sensitive zone and the river hazards decide what can be built where. The Environment Ministry’s November 2025 filing before the National Green Tribunal on building along the Uttarkashi–Gangotri route suggests more regulation, not less.

The district also carries seismic history: the earthquake of 20 October 1991 killed 768 people by the official count, with magnitudes reported from 6.1 to 7.1 depending on the agency (NICEE, IIT Kanpur). A reader should treat Uttarkashi as a place to understand rather than a place to rush into, and buy only with local legal advice and a geologist’s opinion on the specific slope.

  • Uttarkashi
  • Gangotri
  • Harsil
  • Dharali
  • Barkot
  • Purola
  • Yamunotri
Locator map of Uttarkashi district in Uttarakhand showing Uttarkashi, Gangotri, Harsil, Dharali, Barkot and Purola

Transaction costs

Stamp duty & registration in Uttarkashi

5%

Stamp duty — sale deed (general)

Stamps and Registration Dept fee sheet

3.75% / 5%

Stamp duty — female buyer

up to ₹25 lakh / above ₹25 lakh

2%

Registration fee

fee sheet cap; amended Nov 2025, confirm

The general sale-deed duty is 5%, with 3.75% for a female buyer up to ₹25 lakh and 5% above that, and the registration fee is 2% of the value, per the Stamps and Registration Department's fee sheet (Uttarakhand e-registration fee sheet, undated PDF). The department's notification index records the 5% rate since 31 May 2011 and a 25% discount for a female buyer on land up to ₹25 lakh, twice in a lifetime, since 31 July 2017 (Stamps and Registration Department notification index, updated November 2025). The fee sheet shows the registration fee capped at ₹25,000, but the same index records a 16 November 2025 amendment replacing ₹25,000 with ₹50,000 in the fee table, so the cap needs confirming with the Sub-Registrar. The state revised circle rates in October 2025 (ETV Bharat, October 2025), but the report gives figures only for Dehradun, so we have no Uttarkashi rate. The fee sheet also lists a full rebate for qualified disaster-affected beneficiaries in Uttarkashi and four other districts; it does not say who qualifies, and it is meant for affected residents, not for buyers generally. The Sub-Registrar is the office to confirm the cap, the circle rate and any rebate.

Know the belt

What shapes land value in Uttarkashi

No sourced price evidence for this district. The cards below describe what drives value and what to check, not a price.

Prices: no sourced figure

No sourced asking-price band

We found no collector-rate schedule, registered-deed series or news report giving an Uttarkashi land price in October 2026. We would rather leave the price table empty than quote an unsourced number. Hill plots in the district are normally quoted per nali or per sq yd, and a buyer should collect registered sale deeds from the same village.

Check: the village circle rate at the sub-registrar and two or three recent registered deeds nearby.

Gangotri approach: Harsil, Dharali, Bhatwari side

Regulated and hazard-exposed

This belt lies along the Gaumukh-to-Uttarkashi stretch of the Bhagirathi Eco-Sensitive Zone, where hotels and resorts are regulated activities, and it is where the August 2025 flash flood struck Dharali. The Environment Ministry’s November 2025 filing before the National Green Tribunal concerned building along the Uttarkashi–Gangotri route (Down To Earth, November 2025). Demand from pilgrims and trekkers is real, but permissions and river hazards are the price drivers.

Check: the zone-map reading, the master-plan permission, and flood history of the nearest stream.

Yamunotri side: Barkot and Purola

Road-led

Barkot and Purola serve the Yamunotri side and the Yamuna valley. The Silkyara Bend–Barkot tunnel, once open, is meant to cut 26 km from the distance between the Gangotri and Yamunotri corridors (The Tribune, April 2025). The collapse inside that tunnel in 2023, which trapped 41 workers for 17 days, is a reminder that road delivery here is slow and uncertain.

Check: road-closure history and whether the parcel is on a cut slope.

Uttarkashi town

Town-edge land

The town is the district headquarters and the base for Gangotri trips. Land near the town edge is the most accessible in the district; we found no sourced price.

Check: municipal limits, drainage, and distance from the Bhagirathi bank.

Units: nali and sq yd

Hill land is recorded in nali and sold in sq yd. The Farmland India working figure is 1 nali = 240 sq yd, so an acre is about 20 nali; local usage varies, so convert against the area in the khatauni. Ask for the area in square metres from the revenue record as well, because the 250 sq m figure in the residential affidavit rule is stated in square metres.

Connectivity

How Uttarkashi connects — road, rail and air

We found no sourced road distances for this district in this pass, so the cards give the corridors by name. Journey times vary with landslides and are long in monsoon.

By road

Dharasu to Uttarkashi and GangotriChar Dham road; highway numbering not checked
Dharasu to YamunotriNH-134 (old NH-94), where the Silkyara tunnel sits
Silkyara Bend–Barkot tunnel4.5 km; breakthrough 16 Apr 2025; opening not confirmed
Char Dham road programmeAbout 825 km programme; 291 km complete at Dec 2022 (PIB); confirm current

By air

Jolly Grant airport (Dehradun)Nearest major airport; road time not checked
Local helipads and chartered flightsNot checked
Delhi (IGI)Reached through Dehradun

By rail & metro

Rishikesh and DehradunNearest railheads
Rishikesh–Karnaprayag lineDoes not pass through Uttarkashi
MetroNone in the district

Uttarkashi is reached from Dehradun and Rishikesh by hill road, and the last leg to the parcel is often a link road that closes in monsoon. Full rules for buyers from outside the state: Uttarakhand agricultural land rules.

Growth catalysts

Upcoming infrastructure & developments

Status labels reflect sources read in October 2026. Government-announced timelines are not guaranteed; items marked confirm have single or conflicting sources.

00Operational

03In progress or pending

Under construction · confirm opening Silkyara Bend–Barkot tunnel
Partly complete · confirm Char Dham all-weather road
Regulatory · NGT filing Nov 2025 Bhagirathi Eco-Sensitive Zone enforcement
Under construction · confirm opening

Silkyara Bend–Barkot tunnel

A 4.531 km tunnel on NH-134 that links the Gangotri and Yamunotri corridors; excavation broke through on 16 April 2025, and the managing director of NHIDCL said about 15 to 18 more months were needed. The Tribune, citing PTI, gave the cost as about ₹853 crore, while another outlet gave ₹1,383.78 crore, so the cost is not settled. The Tribune says the tunnel will cut 26 km between the two shrines. The earlier collapse trapped 41 workers for 17 days, so delivery dates here have slipped before. We found no confirmation that it has opened.

Source: The Tribune, 16 Apr 2025; NBM&CW, 17 Apr 2025; NHIDCL project page

Length

~4.5 km

Breakthrough

16 Apr 2025

Cost

₹853 or ₹1,383.78 crore (reports differ)

Opening

Not confirmed

Land markets in the blast radius

  • Barkot
  • Purola
  • Dharasu
Partly complete · confirm

Char Dham all-weather road

The Char Dham road programme covers about 825 km in 53 packages; the Press Information Bureau listed 291 km as completed, 366 km in progress and 683 km sanctioned on 7 December 2022. On 14 December 2021 the Supreme Court allowed a double-lane paved-shoulder configuration on three strategic highways, including Rishikesh to Gangotri, subject to environmental conditions and an oversight committee. We found no newer completion figure, so the current share is unconfirmed. For a land buyer the road is a double-edged catalyst: it improves access and also cuts the slopes it runs along.

Source: PIB, 7 Dec 2022; LiveLaw, 14 Dec 2021

Total length

~825 km (programme)

Complete (Dec 2022)

291 km

Sanctioned (Dec 2022)

683 km

Status

Confirm

Land markets in the blast radius

  • Uttarkashi
  • Barkot
  • Harsil
  • Netala
Regulatory · NGT filing Nov 2025

Bhagirathi Eco-Sensitive Zone enforcement

The Bhagirathi Eco-Sensitive Zone notification of 18 December 2012 covers 4,179.59 sq km from Gaumukh to Uttarkashi and was amended on 16 April 2018 and 10 November 2022. On 25 November 2025 the Environment Ministry filed its report before the National Green Tribunal on building along the Uttarkashi–Gangotri route. This is not an infrastructure project but a rule that can decide whether a parcel can host a hotel or homestay, so it is listed here as a catalyst for buyers to check.

Source: Down To Earth, 26 Nov 2025; Environment Ministry S.O. 5253(E), 2022

Zone area

~4,179.59 sq km

Notified

2012

Amended

2018, 2022

Ministry filing at NGT

25 Nov 2025

Land markets in the blast radius

  • Harsil
  • Dharali
  • Gangotri
  • Uttarkashi

Agriculture & terrain

Terrain, crops & water in Uttarkashi

A high-Himalaya district of steep valleys, glacier-fed rivers and small terraced holdings, where terrain and hazard decide use before soil does.

🌾 Terraced valley farms

The district’s farming is small-holding hill agriculture on terraces along the Bhagirathi, Yamuna and their tributaries. We did not find a district profile or crop statistics for Uttarkashi, so no yield, area or cropping-intensity figure is given.

  • Terraced farms
  • Small holdings
  • Valley floor

❄️ Glacier and high-altitude zone

The Bhagirathi rises at Gangotri, and the eco-sensitive zone is measured from Gaumukh. After the Dharali flood a temporary lake formed in the Bhagirathi (Deccan Herald, August 2025). This is a hazard layer, not a crop layer.

  • Gangotri glacier
  • Glacial lakes
  • GLOF risk

🌊 River belt and flood risk

The Kheer Ganga flood at Dharali in August 2025 hit a village that geologists say stands on silt from an 1835 flood, with houses and homestays built in the river’s course (Down To Earth, August 2025). Ask for flood history for any parcel on a fan, terrace or stream mouth. The district also suffered the earthquake of October 1991.

  • Kheer Ganga
  • Bhagirathi
  • Yamuna

💧 Water & rainfall

Springs and gravity pipelines supply most hill plots. We did not retrieve district rainfall or groundwater data in this pass; for any parcel, ask for the water source in writing and check the monsoon access to it.

📐 Measurement units

Hill land units: 1 nali = 240 sq yd as the Farmland India working figure (local usage varies); 1 acre = 4,840 sq yd, about 20 nali. The 250 sq m in the residential affidavit rule equals about 299 sq yd, a little over one nali. Always read the area in the khatauni, not the seller’s quote.

At a glance

Uttarkashi vs. its neighbours

District / beltPrice band* (per acre)Evidence
Uttarkashi — all beltsNo sourced priceSearched in October 2026; none found
RudraprayagNo sourced priceSee the Rudraprayag page; same finding
Tehri GarhwalSee the Tehri Garhwal pageSee its own page; not compared here
ChamoliSee the Chamoli pageNeighbour; same 2025 Act

*No price band is shown for Uttarkashi because none could be sourced. Compare the Tehri Garhwal page for the neighbouring district and the Rudraprayag page for the neighbouring Char Dham district.

Fenced hill plot with boundary stones, deodar trees and terraced apple orchards above the Bhagirathi valley near Harsil, Uttarkashi

District report — Uttarkashi

Farmland India view

Why investors look at Uttarkashi

Four reasoned points and an honest note: this is a high-hazard, rule-heavy district with no sourced prices, and the reasons to look are mostly non-financial.

Two of the four Char Dham shrines

Gangotri and Yamunotri give the district steady seasonal pilgrim traffic, which supports homestay and small-lodge use where building is permitted.

Trekking and mountain tourism

The Vibrant Villages Programme names the Nelang Valley trek in Uttarkashi among the border tourism it wants to promote (ETV Bharat, April 2026). The Eco-Sensitive Zone regulates how much building that traffic can support.

Road improvements that are still unfinished

The Char Dham road and the Silkyara Bend–Barkot tunnel would shorten the corridors if delivered, but the tunnel has already slipped after the 2023 collapse and we found no confirmation that it is open.

A buyer-pool that is mostly local

With the 2025 Act allowing sanctioned farmland purchase only in Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar, the realistic buyer of farmland here is someone already holding land in the state. Anyone else should treat this page as a risk guide.

Browse reviewed land in Uttarkashi

Confirm eligibility, zone status, flood history and slope stability directly; Farmland India’s review does not certify them.

STRAIGHT TALK

Risks & challenges in Uttarkashi

Read these before shortlisting in Uttarkashi specifically.

Flash floods and glacial-lake outbursts

The August 2025 Dharali flood swept through a village built partly in the Kheer Ganga’s course, on silt geologists date to an 1835 flood. The cause was debated, from a cloudburst to other triggers. Do not buy on a fan, stream mouth or river terrace without a geologist’s opinion.

Bhagirathi Eco-Sensitive Zone

About 4,179.59 sq km from Gaumukh to Uttarkashi is covered, with hotels and resorts treated as regulated activities and the Environment Ministry’s November 2025 filing before the National Green Tribunal on building along the Gangotri road. A saleable parcel may not be buildable.

Agricultural land bar for outsiders

The 2025 Act allows sanctioned purchase of agricultural and horticultural land only in Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar, so there is no farmland route in Uttarkashi. NRIs cannot buy agricultural land or a farm house under the RBI direction. Check the residential affidavit rule with a local advocate.

Earthquake exposure

The earthquake of 20 October 1991 killed 768 people by the official count. Confirm the seismic zone for the parcel and use a structural engineer for any building.

Road closure and tunnel delay

The Silkyara tunnel collapsed in November 2023, trapping 41 workers for 17 days, and its completion is still pending. Ask for road-closure history and plan for a parcel to be cut off.

Forest and national-park land

We did not map forest and protected-area boundaries for this page. Read the khasra and khatauni, ask the Divisional Forest Officer, and check boundaries on the ground.

No price evidence

We found no sourced price or circle-rate series. Without registered comparables, any price quoted to you is untested.

Who to contact

Local revenue, planning & forest offices

Mutation and revenue-record matters go through the Tehsildar of the relevant tehsil (Rajgarhi, Bhatwadi, Chinyalisaur, Dunda, Purola or Mori, as listed by IndiaStat) and the District Magistrate’s office at Uttarkashi; office addresses were not checked for this page. Sale-deed registration is handled by the local Sub-Registrar. Forest-land and national-park questions go to the Divisional Forest Officer, and eco-sensitive-zone questions to the monitoring committee and the district administration. Parcel records sit on the Bhulekh Uttarakhand portal, which we did not open for this page.

COMMON QUESTIONS

Frequently asked questions

Everything buyers, NRIs and investors ask before their first reviewed farmland purchase in Uttarkashi.

Visit full wiki

01 of 04

Can an outsider buy agricultural land in Uttarkashi?

Not through the sanction route. Under the 2025 amendment, agricultural and horticultural land can be bought only in Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar, with prior state sanction, and press coverage counts Uttarkashi among the 11 districts where the restriction applies. For residential land the buyer files an affidavit about the 250 sq m limit. Have a local advocate check the Act and your own position.

Ready to look at what is available?

Browse reviewed listings

Transparency

Sources and references

Law and courts

Government

News

Further reading

Data-currency note: population reflects Census 2011, the latest full Census. Infrastructure and regulatory statuses were read in October 2026 and change quickly. The fee sheet is undated and the registration-fee cap may have changed in November 2025. The Bhulekh portal, Uttarkashi circle rates, the current Nelang permit rule and any forest or park boundary map did not open for us. No price figures are given because none could be sourced. This is a general guide, not legal advice. Report inaccuracies to wiki@farmlandindia.com.

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