KEDAR YATRA: TRADERS KEEP FINGERS CROSSED
GAURIKUND: Gaurikund, the base camp for the trek to the Kedar nath temple, would usually buzz with activity in the wake of yatra season. However, this year, it is comparatively quiet, bearing the brunt of the mid-June calamity that struck the hill state last year.
Earlier, the businessmen would renovate and stock their shops with goods for the six-month-long yatra season that would accrue them enough money to sustain them for the rest of the year. But now, the shopkeepers have hardly opened their shops and the entire area bears a forlorn look.
The only activity seen here is that of officials trying to restore the roads, electricity and drinking water on the Kedarnath route.
Nature had played havoc at Gaurikund last year. Life and property were lost in abundance due to the cloudburst, and the area has not yet recovered from the massive devastation.
The Gauri Kund — the sulphur spring — that was once the pride of the place, has been obliterated with mounds of debris brought with the flash floods, and the water from the sulphur spring has somehow been trapped through a pipe where the pilgrims take the customary bath before marching on to Kedarnath.
The hotels, shops and houses around the kund have also been washed away. The Gauri Temple too has also been reduced to a dilapidated monument, and the Badri-Kedar temple committee has done nothing to reclaim it so far.
NATURE HAD PLAYED HAVOC AT GAURIKUND LAST YEAR AND THE AREA HAS NOT YET RECOVERED FROM THE DEVASTATION