Rudraprayag: Following a cloudburst incident occurred in Kedarnath valley on Wednesday night which left thousands of people stranded, over 12,000 stranded pilgrims along the Kedarnath trek route have been rescued in five-days relentless rescue efforts by SDRF, NDRF, army and Airforce. Meanwhile, senior officials in Uttarakhand assured to get repaired the damaged roads and restore the Kedarnath yatra in the coming two weeks.
Over 1400 were rescued on Monday, 645 airlifted
Amidst clear weather conditions on Monday, Airforce’s MI-17 and Chinook helicopters carried out sorties to rescue the stranded people in Kedarnath. As per the reports, Chinook airlifted 65 pilgrims, while MI-17 airlifted 61 pilgrims from Kedarnath trek route on Monday. On the other hand, private choppers airlifted 519 pilgrims from the Kedarnath trek route. Hence, approximately 1400 pilgrims were saved by pedestrian routes and 645 were airlifted on the fifth day of rescue operations. Hence, more than 12000 people have been rescued so far.
Sniffer dogs identified four bodies
On Sunday, the Indian Army deployed two sniffer dogs for the search operation on the Kedarnath trek route. As per the officials, these sniffer dogs have recovered four bodies so far along the Kedarnath trek route. According to SDRF commandant Manikant Mishra, “Our dog squads are also helping us in the search operations.”
Efforts will be made to restart Kedarnath yatra in two weeks
Senior government officials in Uttarakhand on Monday stated that efforts will be made to restart the Kedarnath yatra in two weeks. Secretary of disaster management, Vinod Kumar Suman, said, “The ongoing rescue operations to evacuate the people from Kedarnath trek route is seemingly concluded. Only a small number of people, shopkeepers and few pilgrims are currently in Kedarnath. Over 12000 stranded people have been rescued in the last five days.”
Officials to commence repair work soon
As per the instructions of CM Pushkar Singh Dhami, on Monday, Garhwal Commissioner Vinay Shankar Pandey and other senior state officials conducted an on-site inspection and aerial survey of disaster affected areas. During this, while taking stock of the damaged routes, he directed the concerned officials to prepare a priority planning to reconstruct the washout road between Sonprayag to Gaurikund and commence the work immediately. After the inspection, the senior officials sought suggestions from all the concerned departments to expedite the repair and restoration work on the trek route within 15 days. Along with this, Secretary PWD, Pankaj Pandey and Secretary Disaster Vinod Suman directed the concerned officials to immediately start the process of constructing a temporary road on the washed out patches between Sonprayag and Gaurikund.
Work needs to be carried out at a total of 29 sites
According to officials from the Public Works Department, approximately 15 meters of the area near the Ghoda Padav near Gaurikund has been washed out. Additionally, there is a 60-meter road also swept away in Junglechatti. Addressing these challenges, work needs to be carried out at a total of 29 sites. As an alternative route, they propose using the Shri Kedarnath, Garud Chatti, Lincholi route, which remains unaffected by heavy rainfall. Furthermore, preparations are underway to transport 10 folding bridges to Kedarnath via Chinook or foot routes for various locations.
Electricity supplies are also affected
While giving information, the officials of the Electricity Department said that poles have been damaged in Gaurikund Lincholi and Bhimbali, apart from this, the 11KV substation near Sonprayag has also come under threat. The Garhwal Commissioner directed to prepare a proposal for building a new sub-station by identifying new land for the sub-station and checking the quality of the land and other parameters.