Heavy rain halts Kedarnath yatra, met dept sounds alert
MUSSOORIE/DEHRADUN: The Char Dham Yatra to Kedarnath was halted on Monday amid gusty winds, heavy rain and snowfall in Uttarakhand even as the pilgrimage to Gangotri, Yamunotri, Hemkund Sahib, and Badrinath continued as usual.
The Hemkund Sahib Yatra began on Sunday with 5,000 pilgrims allowed to visit the shrine daily. “Hemkund Sahib experienced light snow on the day the portals of the shrine were opened but it has not affected the yatra,” said Hemkund Sahib Management Trust vice president NS Bindra.
So far, 8.8 lakh pilgrims have visited Char Dham shrines including 2.8 lakh to Badrinath Dham, 2.9 to Kedarnath Dham, 1.7 lakh to Gangotri Dham and 1.2 lakh to Yamunotri Dham.
The Rudraprayag district administration cited the pilgrims’ safety and stopped the yatra for the Kedarnath shrine.
Rudraprayag district disaster management officer NK Rajwar said due to the heavy rain, the pilgrims, who have arrived in Ukhimath, Sonprayag and Gaurikund, were asked to stay there until further announcement as winds, thunderstorms and lightning pose a risk to them on their way to Kedarnath.
Over 10,000 pilgrims were waiting for the yatra to resume. The pilgrims on their way to Kedarnath were surprised at this unexpected rain and took shelter in the hotels at Rudraprayag, Agastyamuni and other places en route Kedarnath shrine.
“We were heading for Kedarnath but the administration did not allow us to go ahead citing heavy rains... we stayed at a hotel in Rudraprayag,” said Vimla Shekhawat, a pilgrim from Rajasthan.
Another pilgrim Man Bhadur Thapa from Nepal said the gusty winds made commuting difficult. “So, we decided to stay at Agastyamuni and wait for the rain to subside before heading for Kedarnath.”
A handful of the pilgrims managed to reach Kedarnath. “Kedarnath has been experiencing rainfall since last [Sunday] night and as the yatra has been stopped, only those pilgrims who were staying overnight are being escorted to the shrine and being sent back...,” said KN Goswami, a nodal officer at Kedarnath.
Ram Prakash Singh, a pilgrim from Madhya Pradesh who arrived in Kedarnath on Sunday, said with a smaller number of pilgrims, he was able to perform full prayers and spend time meditating near the temple premises in Kedarnath on Monday.
Meanwhile, the rains lashed across the state in districts like Dehradun and Nainital bringing down the temperature considerably. At Mussoorie, the overnight rain continued in the Morning accompanied by 50-60 kilometre per hour gusty winds making the weather pleasant much to the delight of the tourists.
Monika Baweja, a tourist from Palam Vihar Delhi said, “We had come to get some relief from the heat back home and were not disappointed as it has rained all night and everything looks so green.”
The rain also helped extinguish the forest fire that has been raging in the hilly districts of the state for the past several weeks. As per the forest fire department data of 12 hours, only 4 forest fire incidents were reported till 4 pm on Sunday and the rains will also help in mitigating the forest fire incidents as the leaves will become laden with moisture, said the forest department officials.
Chief conservator forest department Garhwal Sushant Patnaik said, “The rains will definitely help in bringing down the forest fire incidents and will also assist the forest biodiversity to replenish itself after the period of scorching heat witnessed in the state in the past few weeks.”
Under its special forecast for Char Dham area, IMD issues warning of thunderstorms, rainfall. Under its special forecast for the Char Dham area, Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) Dehradun centre has issued an alert of thunderstorms accompanied with hail/lightning at isolated places in Uttarakhand till 8.30 am on Tuesday.
The IMD Dehradun Centre has also issued an alert of highvelocity winds in the range of 70-80 km per hour at isolated places in plains and high-velocity winds in the range of 50-60 km per hour at isolated places in hilly areas of Uttarakhand. The alert was issued on Monday noontime.
The IMD Dehradun centre has also forecast Light to moderate rainfall/thunderstorms likely to occur in most places with intense showers at isolated places in Uttarakhand.
Meanwhile, state reported 10.7 mm of rainfall between 8.30 am Sunday to 8.30 am Monday, registering a departure of 365 % from the expected normal rainfall during this period. Most of the districts in the state reported rainfall.
Rudraprayag (where Kedarnath Dham is located) reported 5.3 mm of rain in the same period, registering a departure of 50 % from the normal, while Uttarkashi (where Gangotri and Yamunotri are located) reported 2.8 mm rainfall, registering a departure of 65 % from the normal.
Chamoli (where Badrinath Dham is located) recorded 14.4 mm rainfall, registering a departure of 433 % from normal.