CM announces 25% concession in chopper fare for Kedarnath
By Our Staff Reporter
Rudraprayag, 6 Aug: Chief Minister Pushkar Singh today conducted an aerial inspection of the disaster affected areas in Kedar Valley and also held a review meeting of senior officers from all the departments related to the Char Dham Yatra route and enquired about the damage caused by heavy rains. The CM directed the officials concerned to take steps for the resumption of the pedestrian yatra to Kedarnath and for normalisation of life in affected areas.
Dhami also enquired about the efforts and preparations being made by all the departments to resume the Yatra. He instructed that the damaged routes, drinking water and electricity lines should be restored as soon as possible. The Chief Minister instructed the administration to start the Kedarnath Dham pilgrimage soon and also to start the helicopter service for Kedarnath Dham from tomorrow. He said that the devotees coming for darshan by helicopter service will be given a 25 percent discount in the fare and that the cost of this concession will be borne by the state government. He also appealed to the local people for suggestions and cooperation regarding the work to be done to resume the Yatra at the earliest.
The Chief Minister also heard the problems of the local people during his interaction with them at the GMVN Guest House in Rampur. He assured them that solutions would be worked out for their problems. He thanked the local people for their cooperation in the rescue and relief operations carried out by the government and the administration under very difficult circumstances and lauded them for this. The CM also thanked the central government and said that, after the heavy rains, the state was provided all possible assistance, including Chinook and MI helicopters for the rescue and relief operations.
Talking to the media after the review meeting, the Chief Minister claimed that, due to landslides caused by heavy rains, the pedestrian route and the roads have been badly damaged at 29 locations. Apart from this, a large amount of government properties including drinking water and electricity lines were also damaged. Telecommunication services have also been disrupted in some places. Since the heavy rainfall, the district administration, disaster management and other organisations including SDRF, DDRF, NDRF and public representatives, the Purohit community and the Teerth Purohits and many other religious and social work organisations have worked wholeheartedly in this rescue operation carried out to evacuate the trapped devotees and shift them to safer places. The CM said that about 12 thousand devotees and local people have been rescued in record time. The rescue operation is almost complete now.
On this occasion, Cabinet Minister Saurabh Bahuguna, MLA, Rudraprayag, Bharat Chaudhary, District Panchayat President, Rudraprayag, Amardei Shah, Chandi Prasad Bhatt, State President, BJP Mahila Morcha, Asha Nautiyal, Chief Secretary Radha Raturi, DGP Abhinav Kumar, Principal Secretary RK Sudhanshu, Secretary, PWD, Dr Pankaj Pandey, Secretary, Disaster Management, Vinod Kumar Suman, Garhwal Commissioner Vinay Shankar Pandey, IG, Garhwal, KS Nagnyal, District Magistrate Saurabh Gaharwar, Superintendent of Police Dr Vishakha Ashok Bhadane and other officers were among those present.
