Disaster rain in Uttarakhand: Kedarnath Yatra temporarily stopped, 10 km long jam on Badrinath Highway

Uttarakhand In the last few days, the changing mood of the weather has increased the difficulties of the Chardham pilgrims. Due to continuous heavy rains and landslides at many places, the administration has had to take a big decision to temporarily stop the Kedarnath Yatra. The Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued an orange alert regarding heavy rains in the state, after which this step has been taken keeping in mind the safety of the devotees.

Due to rain and debris, hundreds of passengers are stranded on the hilly roads and severe traffic jams have arisen at many places.

Rudraprayag administration issued advisory, banned travel

Keeping the safety of the devotees paramount, Rudraprayag Police and local administration have put the Yatra to Kedarnath Dham on hold for the time being. While sharing information on social media platform

Emergency helpline number released

The administration has issued official helpline numbers to help the pilgrims in distress. In case of any inconvenience or emergency, devotees can contact on these numbers:

Mobile Number: 8958757335, 8218326386
Emergency Service: 112 (Immediate help can also be taken through dial 112)

Wheels of vehicles stopped on Badrinath road, jam cleared through ‘token system’

On the other hand, the situation near Joshimath on Badrinath National Highway (NH-7) remains extremely serious. Vehicular movement is almost at a standstill due to heavy crowd and bad roads.

The administration has come out with a unique formula to deal with the jam. ‘Emergency Token-Based Gate System’ has been activated to release one-way traffic on the highway at an interval of 30 minutes.

Dilapidated roads and record crowd become a big challenge

According to Chamoli Superintendent of Police (SP) Surjeet Singh Panwar, at present the pressure on the infrastructure is more than its capacity. Every day around 30,000 to 35,000 pilgrims are visiting Badrinath Dham and 5,000 to 10,000 devotees are visiting Hemkund Sahib. About 10 kilometers stretch between Joshimath-Marwari-Vishnuprayag road is in a very dilapidated condition. Due to land subsidence in Joshimath a few years ago, the road infrastructure here has already become weak.

SP said that the gate system built near Narasimha temple in Joshimath is proving effective at the ground level. Through this, while the devotees wait for their turn in the vehicle, they are easily able to visit the Narasimha temple.