The Chardham Yatra to Kedranath Shrine was again suspended amidst massive landslides on the pedestrian route between Sonprayag and Gaurikund. The Rudraprayag district administration had to suspend the pilgrimage as a huge mass of hilltop slided down blocking 1.5 kilometers of the road.
Sharing the information, the state Disaster Management Department said the Sonprayag-Gaurikund trekking route is blocked due to a massive landslide triggered by heavy rainfall in Kedar Valley for some days. The landslide occurred on Tuesday as a large area of the hill, approximately 1.5 kilometer, collapsed ahead of Munkatiya leading to complete blockade of Rudraprayag-Gaurikund National Highway. This has halted pilgrim movements on both sides of the landslide area.
The Disaster Management Department stated that pilgrimage to Kedarnath Temple was suspended for three days in view of the heavy landslide on the track. According to Rudraprayag district officials, teams of National Highway, Border Road Organisation (BRO), local police, and the District Disaster Management department have started work to restore traffic and pedestrian movements.
Sonprayag Kotwali in-charge RS Kathait confirmed that the Kedarnath pilgrimage was suspended due to a landslide that took place late evening on Tuesday. He said large boulders with massive debris fell on the Sonprayag-Kedarnath track completely halting the movements on both sides of the landslide zone.
He informed that pilgrims had to be stopped at Gaurikund and Sonprayag to avoid any untoward happening. No casualty was reported at the landslide area which is known as a chronic disaster prone location. This mainly as no vehicle or pilgrims were passing from track at the time of landslide occured between 6.30 and 7.00 PM.
Onkar Nath Pandey, Executive Engineer of the National Highway, informed that the clearance of the debris from the road has begun with the help of local police and SDRF but the work is being affected by intermittent rain and darkness.
According to Pandey, earlier, the road was expected to be restored by Wednesday morning. The extent of the landslide rendered it difficult, said Pandey. The Sonprayag-Gaurikund trekking route is now closed. With the highway blocked, police have stopped two-way traffic from Gaurikund and Sonprayag.
District Disaster Management Department officials further said that amidst day-long rain on Tuesday, 2,000 pilgrims departed from Sonprayag for the Kedranath Shrine on pedestrian track while 1,300 others, who were able to complete their visit, had returned to the Sonprayag by 5 pm much before the landslide.
This is the second time that the Rudraprayag District Administration had to suspend the Kedarnath pilgrimage due to landslides in the current monsoon season.