With the very first spell of monsoon showers damaging nearly half-a-dozen roads and bridges in Rudraprayag and Chamoli districts, choppers were flown on Friday to the affected areas with a team of senior officials to assess conditions and ensure safety of Chardham pilgrims.
“We have flown a total of seven helicopters to meet requirements, if any, to the affected areas out of which five are stationed in Joshimath and two in Mandakini valley.
They have been sent primarily to evacuate stranded pilgrims to safety if the need to do so arises,” Uttarakhand Chief Secretary N. Ravishankar said.
However, the exact situation of the rain-hit parts of the two districts will be known only when the officials return from those areas, he said.
Just a day after monsoon arrived in Uttarakhand, heavy rains damaged roads and bridges in the two districts on Thursday, badly affecting Chardham Yatra and restricting movement of thousands of pilgrims bound for the Himalayan shrines.
Chardham Yatra and the pilgrimages to Hemkund and Mansarovar are also interrupted due to incessant rains at places and landslides bringing rubble onto the roads and blocking them at a number of points.
The fourth batch of Mansarovar pilgrims has been stopped at Dharchula due to heavy rains continuing there, Pithoragarh District Magistrate Sushil Kumar Sharma said.
While a vital motor bridge between Sonprayag and Gaurikund was washed away by heavy rains on Thursday evening, Badrinath highway remained blocked for the second consecutive day at four points, leaving over 9,000 pilgrims stranded at Badrinath, Hanumanchatti, Pandukeshwar, Govindghat and Ghanghariya, Chamoli District Disaster Managament officer Nandkishore Joshi said.
With heavy rocks and boulders from a hillside blocking Badrinath highway between Joshimath and Vishnuprayag, devotees bound for the Sikh shrine of Hemkund Sahib and those returning from there have had to take shelter at different places, he said.
Over 5,000 pilgrims who had left for Hemkund Sahib have been stopped at Ghanghariya whereas around 1,200 pilgrims bound for the Sikh shrine have been asked to stay in Govindghat, Mr. Joshi said.
About 5,000 pilgrims are in Badrinath waiting for the highway to be restored, he said, adding, the Govindghat gurudwara has been vacated because of the rising waters of the Alaknanda. The yatris who were staying there have been moved to safe places, he said. A bridge on the trek route to Hemkund Sahib has also been washed away. - PTI
Staff Reporter adds:
‘Yatra not suspended’
A day after damaged roads and bridges disrupted the Char Dham Yatra, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat said on Friday that the yatra has been regulated, and not suspended.
An Uttarakhand Disaster Mitigation and Management Centre (DMMC) press release said 535 stranded pilgrims were airlifted from the Kedar Valley and 310 from Badrinath and Hemkund. Over 9,000 pilgrims, including 5,000 pilgrims on the Hemkund Sahib route and 3,000 at Badrinath, are still stranded, it stated.
“All the pilgrims stranded in Kedar Valley have been airlifted. Those who are stranded near Badrinath and Hemkund Sahib will be airlifted on Saturday,” Mr. Rawat said.
