Gandhinagar: All the Gujarati pilgims along with others stranded owing to the landslide on the Rishikesh-Badarinath High Way yesterday were safe and the blockade was likely to be completely cleared by 7pm this evening paving way for the resumption of Badrinath/Kedarnath yatra, Director of Relief of Gujarat Government G B Mangalpura today said.

He said that he was constantly in touch with the authorities of Uttrakhand government and was told that the stranded pilgrims including the Gujarati ones have been provided with adequate shelter and food.

‘We don’t have an exact data regarding the number of Gujarati pilgrims but the number of pilgrims to Chardham yatra from Gujarat always remains high. Moreover in this season of holidays, the number must be quite high. However no untoward incident has fortunately been reported in the incident that took place at Hathi Parvat near Vishnuprayag in Chamoli district,’ he said.

The clearance of debris and opening blockade was going on at a war footing and it would be cleared by this evening, he said adding that he had a talk with the secretary of Disaster Management department of Uttrakhand government just a little while ago.

DeshGujarat