Dehradun: Noting that a lot needs to be done to improve the condition of roads on Chardham yatra route, former Uttarakhand chief minister Bhagat Singh Koshiyari today said the credit for all the good work done near Kedarnath shrine goes to the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering and not to the state government as it claims.
"The state government has no reason to exult over the good reconstruction work near Kedarnath as all of it has been done by the brave personnel of NIM. I have toured the area in the past and can say that long stretches of roads on chardham route are still in a bad shape.
"Work assigned to central agencies like NIM or BRO in affected areas are showing improvement whereas those assigned to agencies under the state government are still as shabby," Koshiyari told reporters here.
Agencies under the state government neither have the skills to work amid 10 feet of snow in high altitudes nor the will to do so, he said.
He also criticised the state government for not seeking the opinion of people in general or MPs from areas on chardham route on the condition of roads and other arrangements saying that could have helped it put things in place well before start of the yatra slated for April 21.
However, Koshiyari advised the state government to keep an alternative plan ready for each of the four Himalayan shrines for the convenience of pilgrims in case of an emergency.
