Snowfall disrupts Kedarnath reconstruction work

Dehradun, Dec 15 :  Reconstruction work at the Kedarnath shrine in Uttarakhand has been suspended due to inclement weather and sub-zero temperature, an official said on Friday.

The Met said snowfall continued in the region and on Thursday the mercury dropped to minus 5 degrees Celsius.

Seventy labourers and a group of engineers have returned from the Hindu shrine, which is at an altitude of 3,553 metres above sea level, to the base camp, the official said.

Work has been going on at a feverish pace, ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone some months back. 

The area surrounding the fabled Shiva shrine, which is part of the annual Chaar Dhaam pilgrimage, was devastated in flash floods in 2013, that also killed thousands of people. 

Rudraprayag District Magistrate Mangesh Ghildiyal said that some labourers have been shifted to Sonprayag and the remaining have been put up in Linchauli. 

Once the weather turns normal, they will resume work, he added. 

Under the reconstruction work, the Himalayan shrine is being developed as 'Kedarpuri'. Other than widening of roads and beautification of the area, a safety retaining wall is also being constructed behind the temple.

Workers hired by the Public Works Department (PWD) and staff of the Nehru Mountaineering Institute were doing the work here. 

Officials, however, said that barring very difficult weather situations, work would go on during the winter months so that everything was ready by 2018 when the Chaar Dhaam Yatra would commence.