Ceremonial worship in the Kedarnath shrine is expected to resume within a fortnight after proper ceremonies are conducted for the purification of the shrine and for the peace of souls of those killed there in the recent disaster. Badrinath Kedarnath Temple Committee chairman Ganesh Godiyal said this after returning to Dehradun on Tuesday. He fears that the actual death toll might exceed 5000 figure.
Addressing the media, Godiyal said that he would demand that the State government facilitate planned reconstruction around the Kedarnath shrine the connectivity to which would take at least a year to be restored.
“Fourteen BKTC employees and two committee members have been missing since the disaster struck Kedarnath in two stages on the night of June 16 and morning of June 17. Though at present a local shop keeper Darshan Singh is burning incense at the shrine morning and evening, regular worship is expected to start within a fortnight. Apart from demanding planned reconstruction at Kedarnath, I also plan to facilitate vacating the private and other buildings within 100 metres of Badrinath shrine with mutual consent and settlement with owners so that the temple does not appear clogged by other constructions,” he said while stressing on the need for regulating the Char Dham Yatra and the number of pilgrims along with affixing the responsibility for this on one department in stead of multiple departments.
Referring to the offers by chief ministers of various states to help in rebuilding Kedarnath, Godiyal thanked them but added that the Uttarakhand CM has already said that the State government will do so with the help of the Archaeological Survey of India. However, he requested interested State governments to assist the BKTC in restoring the facilities at this hallowed shrine.
Replying to a question about why he entered the shrine with his shoes on and took cameramen inside the sanctum sanctorum though even photography is banned there, Godiyal said that he was dazed on seeing bodies inside the shrine and committed this error as a result.
“I respect the criticism by Shankaracharya Swaroopanand Saraswati and am ready to face any punishment he states for me. There were bodies and many pairs of footwear inside the shrine when I entered it but later I entered the shrine removing my footwear to pray and offer bael leaves to lord Shiva, though someone from Gujarat who was saved had also offered bael leaves to the lord before me”, he added.