Yamunotri Highway’s 15-Metre Stretch Caves In; 3,000 Char Dham Pilgrims Stranded
Caving in of a 15-metre stretch of Yamunotri Highway between Rana Chatti and Sayana Chatti on Wednesday night led to an interruption in yatra towards Yamunotri Dham, officials said adding that over 3000 pilgrims were stranded.
Only small vehicles were able to pass through from Barkot to Jan ki Chatti while the movement of buses and other heavy vehicles was suspended, leaving thousands of pilgrims stranded, said disaster management officials in Uttarkashi.
“15-metre road stretch on the Yamunotri national highway between Rana Chatti and Sayana Chatti caved in resulting in the suspension of traffic movement of buses and other heavy vehicles carrying pilgrims while the smaller vehicles were able to pass through on the road.”
“One tractor trolley, two JCB machines, one tipper, one Pokland and 15 labourers were rushed to the spot and it is likely that the road will be opened for all kinds of traffic by Thursday evening,” said Patwal.
Around 24 buses and over 15 minibuses of pilgrims stopped, and the stranded pilgrims were taken to safe shelters in ashrams and nearby guest houses around Sayana Chatti, said the DDMA officials.
The Rishikesh-Gangotri Highway number 108, Vikas Nagar- Barkot national Highway 123, Chinaylai Saud-Suvakholi, Uttarkashi-Lamgaon-Srinagar and Mussoorie-Dehradun roads are, however, open for vehicular movement, said officials.
Meanwhile, the total tally of deaths during the Char Dham yatra due to cardiac arrest and other medical reasons has reached 48 so far. Of these 48, Yamunotri and Gangotri have so far reported 19 deaths, including 15 deaths at Yamunotri and 4 at Gangotri.
At Badrinath, 8 deaths have been reported so far while the tally of deaths at Kedarnath has reached 21 with one death reported on Thursday morning at Kedarnath, said BK Shukla, chief medical officer (CMO), Rudraprayag.
KN Goswami, nodal officer Kedarnath said, “Nagranta aged 57 from Mandia Karnataka died due to cardiac arrest and she was brought dead by the medical staff at Vivekananda Hospital set up at Kedarnath”.
He said they ensured that no pilgrim had to sleep out in the open. “In case of rise in the number of pilgrims, the hall owned by Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam is open where we give shelter for the night,” said KN Goswami.
Over 6.5 lakh pilgrims have visited the four shrines so far. The number of pilgrims who reached Kedarnath was 16,788 on Wednesday taking the total tally to 233,711. According to the government data released on Wednesday, 188,346 pilgrims visited Badrinath, 106,352 at Yamunotri and 130,855 at Gangotri.
Earlier in the day chief secretary, Uttarakhand SS Sandhu reached Kedarnath shrine and reviewed the progress of the construction work being done in Kedarnath.
During the inspection, the chief secretary directed the officials to ensure that all the construction work being carried out in Kedarnath are completed at a fast pace and high quality of work is maintained.
He directed the officials to carry out the construction work of residential buildings for the pilgrim priests on a top priority basis.
He said the development work of the Dham should be carried out in coordination with all the officers and pilgrim priests.
A special cleanliness drive was also conducted at Kedarnath shrine in association with the district administration and Sulabh International, an agency that has been assigned the cleanliness task here.
Mayur Dixit, district magistrate Rudraprayag, said, “The number of devotees in the shrine is continuously increasing. Keeping that in mind, a cleanliness drive was carried out in association with the team of Swachh Bharat Mission and other self-help organisations.”
Dhananjay Pathak, in charge of Sulabh International, said, “105 people participated in the cleanliness drive that was carried out from temple premises to Shankaracharya Samadhi Discourse Hall. Bhairon Nath and various places were cleaned as part of the cleanliness drive.”