More than a year has passed since the June 2013 disaster wreaked havoc in Uttarakhand but the damaged portion of the Kedarnath shrine has not been repaired properly yet. The Archaeological Survey of India now plans to do the repairs next year when the temple reopenms after the winter break.
The disaster brought about by heavy rains last year had damaged the structure of Kedarnath temple with one of its doors and a portion of the wall sustaining damage due to the flood.The ASI has already completed repairing the door on the left side of the temple but the damaged portion of the wall framing the door on one side has not yet been repaired properly. According to sources, the ASI had hired 35 stone workers from Rajasthan and these workers had chiseled about 40 stones from nearby to repair the damaged wall.
However, when it came to positioning the stones on the wall, the workers were unable to fill the gap being left between the stones. With the portals of Kedarnath being closed to the public on October 25, the workers have also left. At a time when the State government claims to be working hard to restore the Char Dham Yatra infrastructure, the delay in getting the damaged portion of the temple is being questioned by many.
BJP leader Munna Singh Chauhan said that the State Government wanted to present its holding of a cabinet meet at Kedarnath as an achievement. Had the Government been serious about the security of the temple, the repair work would have been finished by now, he said, while stressing that the authorities should immediately focus on ensuring security of the temple structure.
According to the ASI Dehradun circle superintending archaeologist Atul Kumar Bhargava, stones for repairing the damaged portion of the temple wall have already been chiseled.The work of laying the stones was started but had to be left incomplete due to the portals of the shrine being closed. Once the shrine is reopened to the public next year, a chain pulley will be used to remove the stones and set the layer properly in the damaged portion, he said.