Inclement weather disrupts Char Dham Yatra; President unable to complete pilgrimage

Dehradun: Heavy rains and inclement weather have disrupted the annual ‘Char Dham Yatra’ which takes devotees to the shrines of Kedarnath, Badrinath, Yamunotri and Gangotri. [caption id=“attachment_2851038” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  A file image of the flash floods of 2013 in Kedarnath. Reuters[/caption] Heavy rains have lashed the region in the past 48-hours, leading to the disruption of the air service to Kedarnath shrine, which was earlier ravaged in the flash floods of 2013 that killed thousands. Pilgrimage to Badrinath was also hit for more than 12 hours on Wednesday with a major land slide on the Badrinath highway. Cavalcade of the state’s home minister Preetam Singh, who was going to inspect, was also held up for more than an hour due to a land block. Officials informed that a lot of mud had slipped on to the Kedarnath highway after heavy rains in Soneprayag and the helipad was also damaged, leading to abandoning of the chopper service to Kedarnath. Inclement weather also played truant for the high-profile visit of President Pranab Mukherjee who had gone to the hill state on Wednesday to have ‘darshan’ of Kedarnath. He was stuck at Gauchar for more than an hour but the weather did not permit the MI-17, that was to take him to Kedarnath, to take off. After more than an hour of waiting, Mukherjee left for Dehradun and in the evening flew back to New Delhi without completing the pilgrimage.