Kedarnath lashed by fresh snowfall as Chardham Yatra resumes

Undeterred by a fresh spell of snowfall, over 5,000 pilgrims today paid obeisance at Kedarnath, as the Chardham Yatra resumed after a day of disruption.

A total of 5,770 pilgrims flocked to the Himalayan shrine today, out of which 844 had returned to Sonprayag after paying obeisance there, State Emergency Operation Centre here said.

Almost all Chardham Yatra routes were open today with police and SDRF personnel stationed at all sensitive spots to ensure smooth passage of pilgrims atlandslide-prone Lambagad on way to Badrinath where the road was blocked for eight hours due to rubble yesterday, Chamoli District Magistrate Ashish Joshi said.

The inclement weather yesterday, caused by heavy snowfall in the higher reaches of Uttarakhand, had claimed at least one life with a porter from Nepal buried in an avalanche while returning to Gangotri from Kedartal along with a team of 31 tourists, Gangotri National Park Deputy Director Shravan Kumar said.

The body of the porter remained untraced today despite rescue teams scouring the area throughout the day, a report from Uttarkashi said.

"Efforts are still underway to recover his body," District Magistrate Ashish Chauhan said.

Today, however, the Chardham Yatra remained largely smooth and pilgrims were greeted by clear weather in the morning and traffic restored along main yatra routes.

The Rishikesh-Kedarnath national highway was open for all vehicles (big and small) up to Gaurikund, Rishikesh-Badrinath highway was open for small vehicles up to Badrinath while Rishikesh -Yamunotri NH was open for vehicles up to Jankichatti.

The weather was also clear in Kedarnath with pilgrims arriving therein batches since morning,but it became cloudy towards afternoon and it began to snowa little later, the District Disaster office in Rudraprayag said.

However, that failed to dampen the enthusiasm of pilgrims with a total of 5,770 of them visiting the shrine by the end of the day, it said.

Uttarkashi District Magistrate Ashish Chauhan said yatra to both Gangotri and Yamunotri went smoothly and enough personnel were deployed with heavy road clearing equipment like JCBs at sensitive spots to remove rubble in case of landslides.

Former chief minister Harish Rawat, Congress Rajya Sabha MP Pradeep Tamta and Kedarnath MLA Manoj Rawat, who was stranded in Kedarnath due to bad weather yesterday, also returned to Guptkashi today.

Though praising the administration for being alert in Kedarnath, Harish Rawat made a couple of suggestions to the state government to improve the arrangements at the Himalayan shrine.

"I advised the chief secretary to make bonfires at places and streamline power supply at Kedarnath which was disrupted since Monday," he said, adding every pilgrim should be provided a blanket and a raincoat from Kedarpuri to Bhimbali.

The Chardham Yatra comprises the Himalayan shrines of Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri.