Trek route to Kedarnath precarious, warn officials

DEHRADUN: Bouts of heavy snowfall and continuing adverse weather conditions have put a question mark on the yatra to the Kedarnath shrine, portals of which are going to open for pilgrims early morning on Tuesday.
Even as the shrine town and the yatra’s trek route was covered in a blanket of snow due to intermittent snowfall over the past three days, the Defence Geoinformatics Research Establishment, Chandigarh, on Monday issued a fresh yellow warning of avalanche for Chamoli (the district where Badrinath is located), Rudraprayag (district housing Kedarnath) and Uttarkashi (where the Yamunotri & Gangotri shrines are situated).
Terming the situation on the trek route to Kedarnath as ‘precarious at the moment’, NK Rajwar, district disaster management officer of Rudraprayag district, told TOI, "The condition of the trek route, along Bhairav and Kuber glaciers near Lincholi, is quite dangerous and sliding of snow can happen anytime, which might pose a danger.”
Rajwar said that personnel from State Disaster Response Force and district administration have been deployed along stretches declared as ‘dangerous’. “We are letting only one person pass through the area at a given time. The night temperatures at Kedarnath are dipping to -4 degrees Celsius, which is further adding to the challenges we are facing,” he said.
Ashok Kumar, DGP, Uttarakhand told TOI that in view of the adverse weather conditions, the SDRF has been put on alert mode. “We will decide on the yatra based on prevailing weather conditions at Kedarnath. If weather clears out on Tuesday, pilgrims will be allowed to proceed,” he added.
Badri Kedar Temple Committee (BKTC), the body that administers the Badrinath & Kedarnath shrines, has stopped further registration of pilgrims for Kedarnath till April 30. BKTC officials said they have requested pilgrims to undertake the Kedarnath yatra only if they have confirmed accommodation bookings. BKTC chairman Ajendra Ajay told TOI, “This year’s Kedarnath yatra has received an overwhelming response with over 6 lakh registrations. For the period between April 25 to 29, over 96,000 devotees have registered to visit the shrine. However, at the same time, the safety and security of the pilgrims is our prime concern. Therefore, in wake of the prevailing weather conditions, we are requesting pilgrims to come only if they have confirmed night stay arrangements.”