Badrinath, Kedarnath yatras disrupted due to rain, landslides
The pilgrimage to Badrinath and Kedarnath shrines in Uttarakhand was disrupted on Tuesday due to overnight rain and landslides in the higher reaches of the Himalayas, officials said.
A boulder fell on the road to Badrinath at Galnau near Karanprayag early morning on Tuesday.
“The boulder was cleared with the help of JCB machines after which the yatra resumed,” said NK Joshi, district disaster management officer of Chamoli, where the Badrinath temple is located.
“Traffic was disrupted due to the fallen boulders, and we had to wait for the administration to clear the road, after which we resumed our journey to Badrinath,” said Shanti Ben, a pilgrim from Gujarat.
Traffic was also disrupted on national highway 7 to Badrinath near Hanuman Chatti due to a massive boulder blocking the road at Baldoda and rainwater overflowing in the Lambagad stream near Joshimath.
“Pilgrims going to Badrinath were stopped at Pipalkoti, Chamoli, Nandprayag, Karanprayag, Gauchar and Govindghat, and arrangements of food and shelter were made by the administration,” said Himanshu Khurana, district magistrate of Chamoli. The pedestrian route to Kedarnath temple near Gaurikund was blocked due to a rockfall on Tuesday morning.
A team of the state disaster response force cleared the debris, after which the pilgrimage resumed, according to Mayur Dikshit, district magistrate of Rudraprayag.
Due to reports of repeated landslides and rockfalls in the area, additional forces were being deployed to keep the pilgrims safe, Dikshit said.
After the weather cleared on Tuesday, more than vehicles carrying 100 pilgrims were allowed to move towards Badrinath, district officials said.
“We were caught in overnight rains and were escorted to safe places and were provided fruits, biscuits and water as we waited for the yatra to resume,” said Girish Singh, a pilgrim from Delhi on his way to Badrinath.
“It would have been better if we were made aware of weather conditions, or provided a weather forecast at Rishikesh or near some big town so that we could have halted there while it was raining,” said Sumit Awasthi from Kanpur.
The district administrations at Chamoli and Rudraprayag, where the Kedarnath and Badrinath temples are located, started placing signboards at landslide zones and have deployed additional JCB machines so that the routes are cleared without any delay after rockfalls, which are frequent in the areas.
“More than 2 lakh devotees have visited the Kedarnath shrine so far, which is a record,”
Dikshit said.
IMD issues warning of thunderstorms, rainfall
Under its special forecast for Char Dham area, the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) Dehradun centre has issued a warning of thunderstorms accompanied by hail, lightning, intense showers and squall (50-60 to 70 kmph especially in plains) at many places in the stater till 8.30 am on Wednesday.
The warning was issued at 3 pm on Tuesday.
The IMD Dehradun centre has also forecast light to moderate rainfall/thunderstorm likely to occur at many places in Uttarkashi, Rudraprayag, Chamoli (where Char Dhams are located) and at a few places in hills of the remaining districts and at isolated places in plains of Uttarakhand. The state reported 7 mm rainfall between 8.30 am Monday to 8.30 am Tuesday, registering a departure of 369 % from the expected normal rainfall during this period.