The Roads Ministry has completed the restoration work on the pedestrian route to Kedarnath but the yatra is expected to start only next year.
The Ministry claims to have repaired the 14-km trek route connecting Gaurikund to Rambara to Kedarnath which suffered the worst damage in the flash floods that hit the region on June 16 to 17, leading to widespread devastation.
“The prayers have resumed in the temple, but the yatra will take at least another season to start. Our primary aim was to open up the pedestrian channels so as to resume connectivity and now we are working on our second and third phase of motorable road development simultaneously,” said a senior official from Ministry of Roads Transport and Highways (MoRTH).
“In the first phase, we want vehicular movement to resume and simultaneously we are also in talks with ministry of environment, Geological Survey of India (GSI) and some other research bodies to build long term solutions for building robust road connectivity to the higher reaches of Uttarakhand,” said the official.
To expedite work on motorable roads, the ministry enhanced funding for both Border Roads Organisation (BRO) and Public Works Department (PWD) — the two main agencies carrying out restoration work on higher reaches. While the ministry has approved an annual plan size of Rs 555 crore for 2013-14 for BRO, up from Rs 283 crore last fiscal, it enhanced the PWD budget from the Rs 130 crore to Rs 640 crore this year.
“The stretch between Mana and Gangotri is also very bad and will take a lot of planning and time to re-build. In some places, the existing terrain is so bad that alternate routes may have to be carved out,” said an official.
“Construction of motorable roads may take anywhere between two to three years. The recent calamity has taught us several lessons, so this time, when building the roads several other factors like terrain, slopes and other risk elements have to be factored in,” said the official.