The Congress-led Uttarakhand Government is taking all efforts to resume Char Dham Yatra by September 30 to stop migration of locals who have lost means of livelihood in the natural disaster.
However, this is only the official reason the Government has given to resume the yatra. Restoring the yatra before September 30 has a political reason also. The Congress is afraid that the BJP may cash in on the alleged lackadaisical approach of the Government to the natural disaster.
Talking to the mediapersons, Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna said, “The State Government will re-open Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri shrines by September 30. Meanwhile, we are also building base camp in Garudchatti so that we could be able to provide necessary facilities in Kedarnath.
As Badrinath Kedarnath Temple committee (BKTC) and State Government want to resume prayers in Kedarnath, so we are putting all efforts to restore infrastructure in Kedarnath. For this, the Army, ITBP, NDRF, DGBR,
Police and PWD are making intensive efforts.”
According to the sources, “The Congress-led Government is in a hurry to resume the yatra as it feels that the Opposition BJP may bring up the issue of Kedarnath Temple during the forthcoming general election.”
Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna had rejected the proposal of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi who had offered help rebuild the Kedarnath shrine.
Bahuguna said that the Uttarakhand Government would facelift the shrine from its own resources.
Among the total casualties reported, the maximum numbers of missing people are from Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Delhi, which will go to Assembly elections this year. As per the statistics, 820 people are missing from Rajasthan,
504 from Delhi, 296 from Madhya Pradesh and 27 from Chhattisgarh.
Sources added that missing people belong to 19 States including Uttar Pradesh (2,098), Maharashtra (213), Gujarat (120), Haryana (113), Andhra Pradesh (96), West Bengal (77), Bihar (63), Odisha (31), Punjab (26), Jharkhand (36), Tamil Nadu (14), Karnataka (14), Jammu & Kashmir (3)
and Ponducherry.