GSI submits report on reconstruction of rain-ravaged areas

GSI today submitted its final recommendations to Uttarakhand government on reconstruction of flashflood-ravaged districts of the state paving the way for a renewed push to rebuilding efforts in affected areas.
The recommendations included rechannelising the Mandakini river which had changed course due to the mid-June calamity, fixing cracks in the platform within the precincts of the centuries-old Kedarnath temple and shifting human settlements close to the temple southwards.
Submitting the report to Chief Secretary Subhash Kumar, GSI director V K Sharma said the recommendations were based on the findings of a team of 21 experts who conducted a study of the effects of the mid-June calamity in the worst hit Rudraprayag, Chamoli, Uttarkashi, Pithoragarh and Bageshwar districts.

Citing the recommendations of the Geological Survey of India report prepared with special emphasis on the Himalayan shrine of Kedarnath which bore the brunt of the disaster, Sharma said the calamity had changed the course of Mandakini river which needs to be rechannelised.
The change of the river's course was a rare natural phenomenon, he told reporters after submitting the document to the Chief Secretary. The river had moved eastward as a result of the calamity and it needs to be rechannelised, he said.
The GSI study carried out by experts with the help of ground-penetrating radars also sighted small cracks in the platform within the precincts of the centuries-old temple which need to be mended, Sharma said.

The GSI also recommended shifting human settlements close to the temple southwards, he said.

The submission of GSI report to the state government is likely to give a renewed push to rebuilding efforts in the affected areas.
Bahuguna had recently said that tonnes of rubble lying for months in Kedarnath with a strong possibility of bodies decaying underneath will be removed only on the basis of recommendations of the GSI.
However, rubble removal exercise or rebuilding efforts can be resumed at the high altitude shrine only in April-May as it remains heavily snowbound during peak winter months.