Restoration of Char Dham routes on at full pace: Rawat

Dismissing doubts being expressed over the timely completion of road repair work in calamity-hit areas, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat today said all motorable and pedestrian routes to the Himalayan shrines will be in place before the Char Dham pilgrimage begins.
"Efforts are underway on a war footing to restore the damaged roads and bridges and I am confident that all infrastructure will be in place before the Char Dham pilgrimage begins in May," Rawat told reporters here.
"Devotees may not have the best ride on our roads but they will have a safe ride for sure," he said, adding that a month of uninterrupted work by the PWD and BRO is enough to restore the damaged road network close to the four Himalayan shrines.

Claiming that one-fourth of work on the road to Kedarnath, which bore the brunt of the calamity last year, was complete, the Chief Minister said all reconstruction work was being done scientifically, and safety of all bridges and roads was being examined minutely by experts to ensure a trouble-free journey for devotees.
The Director of Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, G S Martolia has been asked to keep an eye on the road restoration work from Rambada and Bhimbali to Kedarnath.
Both BSNL and satellite towers are being set up along the way to the high-altitude shrines so that there is no loss of connectivity in case of emergecy, he said.

Three mobile towers are being built at Jalamla, Makot and Trijuginarayan which will be operational by April 20-25, he said.
In case the BSNL mobile network did not work in high altitude areas, arrangements are being made for satellite connectivity as an aletrnative.
Police are also putting up watch towers at vulnerable points to keep an eye on the movement of people during peak yatra season, the Chief Minister said.