With about a 100 animals including bovines, dogs and equines still stranded in different parts of Kedarnath valley, a team of animal rights volunteers with Border Roads Organisation personnel and veterinarians of the Animal Husbandry Department will leave for Rambada area on Saturday.
A team of the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, Uttarkashi had made visual confirmation of stranded cows, buffaloes and mules in the area on Wednesday. In a related development, following the four-day long protest of mule owners in Joshimath, the Public Works Department has assured in writing that it will build a vital bridge connecting Govindghat to Hemkund by July 22 to facilitate rescue of more than 500 equines and their owners stranded in the area. If the department fails to build the bridge by the said date, it will bear responsibility for the losses.
According to Gauri Maulekhi of People for Animals, there are are fewer than 100 stranded animals in the Kedarnath area as most have died due to starvation and unattended injuries. The animals are stuck on precarious mountain ridges which are difficult to reach. Animals have been stuck for more than a month in Bhimbali, Rambada, Ghinurpani and Jangalchatti. No one including the locals and owners could take out the animals from either side of the river due to the precarious position of the stranded animals. Meanwhile, former Chief Minister Maj Gen (retd) Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri who also visited the disaster affected areas and met affected persons in Joshimath, said that it is shameful that the stranded animals have not yet been rescued a month after being stranded though they could have been rescued with the help of the army within a week.
According to locals, 800 mules are stranded at Hemkund beyond Govindghat. later following the intervention of the Chamoli district magistrate V Shanmugam, the PWD Gopeshwar superintending engineer assured in writing that the department would construct a temporary bridge to facilitate the rescue of the stranded mules here by July 22 failing which the department would be responsible for the loss.