On being requested by the Civil Administration and the NDRF, troops of Surya Command of the Army have now commenced work to open a new route to the Kedarnath Shrine. Uttarakhand has witnessed incessant rains in the last few days due to which helicopters have not been able to fly and the relief work was severely hampered. The land routes had suffered extensive damage during the cloud burst & flash floods of 16 – 17 Jun 2013 and access to the Kedarnath shrine remains cut off. As meteorological forecasts predict more rains in the near future, opening a new land route was the only solution to gain continued access to the shrine.
On request from the civil administrative and NDRF, teams of Surya Command conducted a reconnaissance of the area and have commenced work to open a route along a fresh alignment. After much difficulty, the Central Command teams were successful in establishing a crossing over the Vasuki Ganga at Sonprayag on 10 July and the leading team comprising of 21 persons including four officers crossed the river and reached Gomkara and camped there for the night at an altitude of approximately 13000 feet. Today another team with logistic support crossed the river at Sonprayag and is now moving on the route opened by the leading team. This team will establish a staging area in the area of Gomkara. The leading team is presently opening the route to Kedarnath crossing Dev Vishnu and was still heading for Kedarnath when reports last came in. The new route is likely to follow the alignment from Sonprayag – Gomkar – Dev Vishnu – Dhungaj Giri – Kedarnath and will be approximately 20 kms in length, passing over an altitude of over 13000 feet.
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