Reconstruction of Kedarnath houses to begin on Sept 15
DEHRADUN: Reconstruction of the houses owned by tirtha purohits (priests) in the temple town of Kedarnath that had been ravaged by the last year’s cataclysmic floods would start from September 15. Officials said rebuilding of all damaged houses would complete by coming March.
“Rebuilding of the damaged houses owned by the priests in Kedarnath would start after a helipad would be ready for landing of a MI-26 helicopter by September 15”, additional chief secretary Rakesh Sharma told HT on Sunday. According to him, the biggest size helicopter available in the country is needed to ferry big equipment without which reconstruction work wouldn’t be possible in that high altitude area (Kedarnath).
“Kedarnath is located in such a tough terrain that rebuilding of the damaged houses in that area wouldn’t be possible without the help of heavy equipment for which a helicopter of the size of MI-26 is needed”, Sharma clarified. He said that the government would pay monetary compensation to tirtha purohits for reconstruction of their damaged houses.
“Pandasamaj ( priests ) would rebuild its houses as per its requirements but the state government would facilitate the whole process”, Sharma said. “The whole process would be implemented in consultation with the chief minister, for which the latter is holding parleys with the priests”, he said. .
Sharma said the condition of the rain-ravaged houses in Kedarnath was so bad that they would be demolished before their reconstruction would begin.