Char Dham Yatra resumes after rain halt in Uttarakhand

The registration of pilgrims and operation of the Chardham Yatra, which was stopped from September 1 to 5 due to bad weather and continuous rain, have been resumed from Saturday.

Char Dham Yatra is a pilgrimage tour of four holy sites - Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath - nestled high up in the Himalayas. In Hindi, 'char' means four and 'dham' refers to religious destinations.

Meanwhile, the Uttarakhand government's disaster management department has requested the centre to provide special assistance of Rs 5,702.15 crore to compensate for the damage caused during this year's monsoon and to prevent possible damage to infrastructure structures in future.

In this regard, Secretary Disaster Management and Rehabilitation Vinod Kumar Suman has sent a detailed memorandum to the Additional Secretary, Disaster Management Division, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India.

Suman informed that due to the natural disaster this year, the Public Works Department (PWD) and public roads have suffered direct damage of approximately Rs 1,163.84 crore.

The damages to the Irrigation Department's assets are approximately Rs 266.65 crore, followed by Rs 123.17 crore of damage to the assets of the Energy Department, Rs 4.57 crore of damage to the Health Department, and Rs 68.28 crore of damage to the assets of the School Education Department.

Moreover, damages of Rs 9.04 crore have occurred to the Higher Education Department's assets, followed by Rs 2.55 crore damage to the Fisheries Department's assets, the Rural Development Department Rs 65.50 crore, the Urban Development Department Rs 4 crore, the Animal Husbandry Department Rs 23.06 crore and other departmental assets Rs 213.46 crore.All government departments have suffered direct damage of approximately Rs 1,944.15 crore.