Kedarnath Yatra suspended till June 30, choppers rescue pilgrims in Uttarakhand

At Badrinath the pilgrims were moved by road to Pandukesar. As many as 650 pilgrims were airlifted from Ghaghara and 2,030 others rescued by road from Badrinath. The Chamoli district administration claims that they have almost cleared all the stuck pilgrims from Ghangharia.

Chamoli's District Magistrate Ashok Kumar said: "A small number of pilgrims exist in Ghangharia and Badrinath-rest we have cleared. We expect the Joshimath-Badrinath highway to become functional by Monday afternoon. We have also dispatched a team of PWD for conducting the repair work of the damaged bridge on the Hemkund Sahib trek route."

For several Hemkund Sahib devotees, the pilgrimage turned into an adventure trip as the ITBP soldiers offered rope pulleys to slide them across the river. After three pedestrian bridges were washed away by flood, the ITBP has fixed a cable to help tourists cross the river. The zip line near Bhundiyar on Hemkund Sahib trek route, brings back memories of the 2013 disaster fresh.

On Sunday over 1,000 stuck Sikh pilgrims decided to undertake the trek from Ghangharia to reach Govind Ghat.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat said: "We have regulated the yatra. We have suspended the Kedarnath Yatra till June 30 as a precautionary measure." Meanwhile, a special team deputed by the Punjab government for the evacuation of stranded pilgrims has reached at Gobind Ghat and Gobind Dham and started rescue operations, a Punjab government official said on Sunday.

Senior IAS officer A. S. Miglani, who is heading the Punjab rescue team, said: "All the members of the team were in touch with pilgrims at Gurdwara Sahib in Joshi Math. Gobind Dham bridge, which was washed away in floods, has been restored by the Army. The pilgrims in small groups of two to three persons are being brought back safely at Gobind Ghat by the Army."

Miglani further informed that the Punjab Roadways buses could not reach Joshi Math as they were stuck on the way near Rishikesh following landslides. He said that the government will now press mini buses into the service to bring back the stranded pilgrims enroute to Hem Kund Sahib to Punjab safely.

He said that the mini buses were expected to reach at Joshi Math tomorrow afternoon from where these pilgrims would be sent back to Punjab. All the pilgrims were being provided food in the Gurdwaras at Joshi Math and Gobind Ghat.