M A I N   N E W S

Himalayan Tsunami A year after- I
Fear, slow govt response continue to deter devotees
Ajay Ramola
Tribune News service

A year ago, cloudbursts triggered monstrous landslides in the upper reaches of Uttarakhand. Rivers swelled grotesquely and wrought an unprecedented catastrophe. No one, not even the government, knows how many people, including hundreds of pilgrims to Char Dham perished. The Tribune revisits the route and assesses the government claims of re-establishing a semblance of order

Roads are still in a bad shape in the flood-ravaged areas. A Tribune photograph

The ravaged Kedarnath shrine after last year’s flash floods.

Kedarnath, June 15
Shyam Singh, a hotel owner at Janki Chatti, barely 6km from Yamnotri is a worried man. The number of tourists he was expecting in the peak season has fallen drastically. “Not many want to stay overnight here. A small drizzle is enough to scare away the pilgrims.” he says.

Raman Thakur, a pilgrim on his way back from Gangotri, says the rubble on the stretch has forced him and others to stay put at Gangotri for another day.

Sunita Devi, a pilgrim from Chhattisgarh, says everyone in her group talks about the last year’s natural disaster. “The entire 30-km stretch from Ukhimath to Sonprayag on way to Kedarnath is scary: there are no roads, only dirt tracks.”

The main shrine at Kedarnath still resembles a ghost town: most structures and houses are damaged. Temple priests say the government has not allowed them to raze the dilapidated houses and construct new ones. “We are yet to assess the scale of damage to the dwelling units. Reconstruction and restoration is a massive exercise,” said Dinesh Dhanai, state tourism minister.

The government has limited the number of pilgrims and introduced the biometric system of registration along with medical checkup at Sonprayag. But the system is not in place.

Through Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam, the government has also arranged food and shelter for the pilgrims in the tents.

However, the number of pilgrims to Char Dham Yatra to the four holy shrines -- Yamnotri, Gangotri, Badrinath and Kedarnath -- has gone down this year.

Arvind kumar Srivastava, secretary Garhwal Yatra Prashasan Sanghatan Rishikesh, an organisation under Commissioner Garhwal, says 1,51,676 people have visited Chardham along with Hemkunt Sahib from May 2, to 12 June 12, this year. The number for the last year stood at over 12 lakh, which is over 10 times the figure for this year.

Obviously, this has resulted in depleted earnings for the local traders and loss of revenue for the tourism industry that is primarily dependent on the Chardham Yatra.

The financial loss can be attributed to the condition of roads, which is far from satisfactory.

The usual route of Char Dham Yatra begins with the visit to Yamnotri followed by Gangotri, Kedarnath and finally Badrinath.

For the pilgrims starting from Rishikesh and Haridwar the journey to Yamnotri is around 215km while the distance from Dehradun to Yamnotri is around 165km.

Out of 34,000 km of road network over 2,100 km is National Highway while the length of state highways is at least 1,600 km. Almost all NHs and state highways in the Garhwal region were damaged due to major landslides and submergence in last year’s natural disaster.

In February 2013, the Ministry of Rural Development had sanctioned 118 roads and 8 bridges of 1,140 km in all, at a total cost of Rs 472 crore for Uttarakhand.

The Ministry of Rural Development also sanctioned Rs 472 crore for around 220 road projects under various stages of implementation at a total cost of Rs 3,438.28 crore in March 2013.

The Uttarakhand Public Works Department also received Rs 30 crore from the Centre to restore and rebuild the roads.

Plus, a portion of the Rs 1,000-crore assistance was announced by the Prime Minister to be spent mostly on building roads.

However, the condition of roads does not suggest that the funds have been utilised for the purpose they were meant for. And that’s why the pilgrims’ anger.

Rajiv Sharma a pilgrim from Delhi at Yamnotri, is furious with the state government for “misleading” his group by stating the condition of roads was good.

Pilgrims put to test

• The old 14-km route from Gaurikund to Kedarnath is damaged beyond repair
• The new 21-km route from Bhimbali to Kedarnath has scissors-like spurs, testing the nerves of the devotees
• Government has arranged tents where food is also provided. 14 persons share a tent of which four are put in a partitioned compartment

Multiple agencies at work

• There is a lack of coordination between various agencies such as Highway Authority of India and Border Roads Organisation (BRO) and the state PWD.
• The BRO, instrumental in reopening roads by Sept 30 last year, is finding it difficult to complete the remaining work at Lambagarh to Badrinath in the absence of construction material.
• BRO wants quarrying rights so that it can use boulders etc as construction material. This can speed up road repair.