By Our Staff Reporter
Rudraprayag, 16 Aug: The pedestrian route to Kedarnath has been finally repaired after the hard work by the labourers after it had remained closed due to heavy damage for about a fortnight. Now that it has been restored, some pilgrims from UP, Gujarat and Haryana reached Kedarnath Dham today. The pedestrian route has been repaired as a result of continuous hard work of 260 workers all these days. The pilgrims reaching Kedarnath Dham have expressed gratitude for the cooperation received from the administration.
It may be recalled that, as a result of cloudbursts and heavy rains, the pedestrian route was damaged at several places on the night of 31 July. Following this, the Yatra was put on hold and the pilgrims were evacuated safely from the pedestrian route who were held up at several places due to landslides and heavy damage.
In the rescue operation conducted at the directions of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and led by District Magistrate of Rudraprayag, Saurabh Gaharwar, thousands of devotees and local people were saved from their lives by heli services as well as on foot. Later, the pilgrims stranded in Kedarnath and other places were also safely evacuated through chopper sorties as well as on foot.
The hugely challenging task of repairs on a war footing of the pedestrian route began at the instruction of CM Dhami. Finally, after about 15 days, the district administration which had engaged more than 250 workers for this task, finally managed to repair the route following which the pilgrims have begun reaching Kedarnath.
As per the local administration, the 19 kilometres long pedestrian road was damaged at 29 places due to the disaster. The district administration today claimed that most of the route has been repaired and restored but minor problems exist at one or two places but the movement of pilgrims has begun. At the locations where the problem still exists, the security personnel are helping the pilgrims cross the road. In such a situation, happiness is also being seen among the devotees from different states of the country who are reaching the Dham on foot. The pilgrims who reached Kedarnath Dham, said that the pedestrian route has been repaired, but there is still a problem at one or two places. Good arrangements are being made by the District Administration, Rudraprayag.
It may also be recalled that the government had ordered continuation of heli services to Kedarnath and declared a 25 percent discount on the fare for the pilgrims availing the chopper services to Kedarnath. This decision came under some criticism from several quarters. Those who had criticised the continuation of chopper services had raised questions regarding safety of the chopper flights to Kedarnath on grounds of low visibility due to clouds and fog.
So far, 10.94 lakh devotees have visited Baba Kedarnath. Now, around 150 to 200 pilgrims are reaching Kedarnath Dham. Along with heli services, some devotees of Baba are also reaching the Dham by walking. Security personnel have been deployed at dangerous places on the footpath, who are ensuring safe journey for the devotees.
The district administration is trying to repair the entire pedestrian route at the earliest, so that more devotees can reach Baba Kedarnath Dham. Hundreds of workers of PWD, Guptkashi, are engaged in repairing the pedestrian trek. Apart from this, the work of repairing the Sonprayag – Gaurikund highway is also going on at a fast pace. The district administration claims that the vehicle movement will start on this route soon. Machines and workers of National Highways department are engaged in repairing the highway day and night.
