Dehradun, June 30
A fresh controversy has erupted on the reported warning of heavy rain in the Garhwal region by the Meteorological Department on June 15 to the state government. The Met Department says prior warning was issued to the government. State Disaster Mitigation Centre and the ITBP, government officials, however, say the warning was of a general nature.

Met officials say the warning was issued to the media also. It was published in all Hindi language daily newspapers on June 15 and 16. But, Uttarakhand Chief Secretary Subhash Kumar says it did not specify much.

Uttarkhand's MeT Department Director Anand Sharma said they had issued advisories from June 14 for the next couple of days and even suggested that the Char Dham 'yatra' of the holy towns of Badrinath, Kedarnath, Yamunotri and Gangotri be postponed for 4-5 days.

"From 14th, we had started giving the heavy rainfall warning....For 15th, we had issued warning for very heavy rains ... and we also said if you could postpone the yatra for 4-5 days. On 16th, we said heavy to very heavy rainfall and specifically highlighted the regions," he said.

Chief Secretary Subash Kumar, however, sought to contest the MeT official's remarks. “I have been observing this since the last 10 to 15 years. They (MeT officials) always claim that it will rain heavily. But the intensity of the rain we had this time, we had no such specific warnings.

They had not asked to put the 'yatra' on hold. They had simply forecast about heavy rains," he said. Sharma said the warnings cannot be specific.

The state received 400 per cent more rains than normal following a cloudburst at Kedarnath that led to unprecedented flooding in the rivers, leading to massive loss of lives and property.

The state information department had issued a press release on June 15 quoting Chief Secretary Subhash Kumar requesting the pilgrims to heed to the Met warning before embarking on their journey.