Uttarakhand government moves air and earth to rescue Kedarnath pilgrims
Over 9,000 devotees are still stuck in Badrinath and at the main camp to Hemkund Sahib in Ghangharia.
With roads blocked and connecting bridges snapped due to heavy rainfall, the Uttarakhand government on Friday launched a massive air and land rescue operation in an effort to move pilgrims to a safer location.
While over 500 pilgrims were air-lifted by choppers from Kedarnath, others putting up at different camps were rescued on foot. Still, over 9,000 devotees are stuck in Badrinath and at the main camp to Hemkund Sahib in Ghangharia.
The rescue operation was launched only after the rains receded after 72 hours. The highway connecting Badrinath however, remained out-of-bounds due to landslide near Lambager, leaving 3,000 pilgrims stranded.
Dismissing claims that the Char Dham Yatra has been cancelled, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat said, "The news is baseless. We have, in fact, regulated it. The Kedarnath Yatra remained suspended for two days, but on Saturday we will inspect the trek route before allowing the pilgrims to proceed from Sonprayag."
Heavy downpour played a spoilsport for the fourth batch of the Kailash Manasarovar pilgrims as they were not allowed to proceed from Dharchula to Sirkha on Friday. Pithoragarh's district magistrate Sushil Kumar said, "If the weather does not improve on Saturday, we will take the Kailash Mansarovar yatris by chopper to Gala on Sunday. The trek route is intact."
The Chamoli district administration is taking help of the Army and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police in restoring the pedestrian bridge connecting Hemkund Sahib. The local administration is presently focusing on transporting the stuck Sikh pilgrims from Ghangharia to Joshimath. Chamoli's district magistrate Ashok Kumar said, "Seven choppers have been deployed to ferry stuck pilgrims from Ghangharia and also from Hanuman Chatti, to Joshimath." After over 24 hours of hard work, the Border Road Organisation was successful in making the Uttarkashi-Gangotri highway functional. The highway was blocked due to landslide at many points near Sukki top.