Rudraprayag:

Heavy rains have severely damaged the route in the Rudraprayag district on Wednesday night. The rescue and relief work to evacuate the people stranded is underway.

According to the Uttarakhand police, as many as 737 people were rescued by helicopter and at least 2,670 people were taken to Sonprayag by the relief forces as of Thursday.

Taking to its official handle on X, Uttarakhand police posted, “The rescue work of people stranded on the Shri Kedarnath Dham Yatra route is continuing. 737 passengers were rescued by helicopter throughout the day.”

“2,670 passengers were taken to Sonprayag. SDRF, NDRF, DDRF, District Police and Administration teams are selflessly helping the devotees,” read the post.

Earlier, Abhinav Kumar, Director General of Police, Uttarakhand, gave information about the relief and rescue operations after heavy rains in the state and appealed to the people of the state and travellers to be cautious and follow the instructions of the officials.

Amid heavy rainfall in Tehri and Rudraprayag districts, Uttarakhand DGP Abhinav Kumar informed on Thursday that the Kedarnath Yatra has been suspended for two days due to weather conditions and 12 NDRF as well as 60 SDRF teams are engaged in rescue work.

Speaking to ANI on the situation created by heavy rains in Tehri and Rudraprayag districts, Uttarakhand Director General of Police Abhinav Kumar said on Thursday, “We had received an alert from the Meteorological Department about heavy rains in the state for 48 hours. In view of this alert, the police, NDRF, SDRF and local administration were put on alert. After the rain started last night, we started getting reports of landslides, rock falls, etc. from various areas.”

“Teams were sent to many places for relief and rescue. The Chief Minister visited Tehri and Rudraprayag and met the affected people.

 So far, 11 people have died in various districts and 8 are seriously injured. By morning, about 1000 people were stranded in Kedarnath and 800 people were stranded on the trek route of Kedarnath,” he said.

“Due to the weather warning, we have suspended the Yatra for the next two days. We have restricted the movement of pilgrims on the Yamunotri and Kedarnath trek routes. The state government has taken the help of the Air Force to evacuate the people stranded in Kedarnath. NDRF 12 teams of INS and 60 teams of SDRF are engaged in rescue work,” he added.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami also conducted a ground inspection of the rain-affected areas in Tehri and Rudraprayag on Thursday.

Heavy rains in various parts of the state on Wednesday night have caused heavy damage to roads, footbridges, power and drinking water lines, as well as agricultural land.

As soon as the information about the disaster was received, CM Pushkar Singh Dhami became active from the night itself and reached the State Disaster Operations Centre at night and inquired about the damage caused by heavy rains across the state.

He instructed the officials to remain in alert mode.

Kedarnath Yatra has been stopped for the time being in view of the safety of the passengers due to landslides at many places on the Kedarnath footpath.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

A huge rush of devotees around the hilly approach to Uttarakhand’s Yamunotri – a part of Char Dham Yatra along with Gangotri, Kedarnath, and Badrinath – led to a massive crowd build-up on the small hillside path on Saturday.

Many people were seen standing in long queues for hours, a day after the doors of Yamunotri temple in the Garhwal Himalayas were opened for devotees.

Several devotees said that they had been standing on the narrow path for more than two hours and alleged that the authorities had not given any proper thought to safety and crowd management.

“We all are facing a lot of problems and there are no officials to assist us. There is also no parking space and people have been stuck for over two hours,” a devotee, who was waiting in the long queue, said.

“We somehow entered the temple premises but were not sure whether we would come out alive or not,” a woman devotee said.

Char Dham Yatra Began On Friday

The Char Dham Yatra began on Friday as the doors of Yamunotri, Kedarnath, and Gangotri temples in the Garhwal Himalayas were opened for devotees on the occasion of Akshaya Tritiya.

While the doors of Yamyunotri and Kedarnath opened at 7 am, the portals of Gangotri opened at 12.25 pm in the presence of a large number of devotees.

Thousands of devotees were present in the temple premises of the Yamunotri dham as its doors opened, while about 10,000 devotees witnessed the opening of the portals of Kedarnath.

Gangotri Dhami, along with Kedarnath and Yamunotri Dham, reopened after remaining closed during the winter season.

The Char Dham Yatra holds profound spiritual significance in Hinduism and the devotees undertake the yatra from April-May to October-November. The temples are visited by lakhs of people every year.

(With agency inputs)