Inclement weather impacts this year’s Char Dham yatra

Unpredictable weather marked by intermittent rain and snow in the higher reaches of Uttarakhand has affected movement at the Char Dham yatra this year, officials and pilgrims said on Monday.

Due to slippery road conditions amid a fresh spell of rain, three pilgrims from Gujarat met with an accident when their car lost control and fell into a gorge near Kirti Nagar in Tehri district while returning from Kedarnath shrine on Monday. Tehri police reached the spot and pulled out all pilgrims and rushed them to Srinagar district hospital, disaster management officials said in Tehri.

Brijesh Bhatt, Tehri district disaster management officer, said, “Three pilgrims from Gujarat were injured in the accident when the vehicle they were in plunged into the 30-metre gorge near Rampur Pulia in Kirti Nagar. They were rushed to the government base hospital in Srinagar. The injured have been identified as Kyur Prajapati, Ruchi Prajapati, and Manav Sunil Chavda. Four others on board escaped unhurt.”

Frequent rain and snow also triggered a minor avalanche in the foothills of the Neelkanth peak, reaching right up to the Rishi Ganga river near Badrinath in Chamoli district.

Pilgrims had to go through a harrowing experience after the road was blocked due to a fallen boulder and a landslide on the Rishikesh-Badrinath highway in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli for six hours on Sunday.

Meanwhile, in Uttarkashi district, a woman from Andhra Pradesh died after being hit by a boulder that fell from the top while she was boarding a vehicle at Kharadi village on her way to Gangotri shrine from Yamunotri on Saturday.

Heavy to moderate spells of rain lashed Uttarkashi, Rudraprayag, Chamoli, Tehri, Pauri and Dehradun districts with brief snow at rgw Kedarnath shrine on Monday.

The India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) Dehradun centre has sounded an alert and forecast light to moderate rain and thunderstorms at several places in Uttarakhand. It has also forecast snowfall in areas above 3,200 metres in the next four days.

According to IMD, the state received 9.9mm of rain, with a departure of 421%, in the 24-hour period between 8.30am Sunday and 8.30am Monday.

In the wake of the weather alert, district administration officials in Rudraprayag appealed to pilgrims coming for darshan at Kedarnath to move ahead slowly and with extreme caution. Bikram Singh, director of IMD, Dehradun centre, said, “The spells of rain will decrease but there will be an increase in snowfall, especially in the Char Dham shrine areas including Kedarnath.”