A landslide on the Kedarnath route in Uttarakhand killed two pilgrims and injured six, while heavy rain led to the temporary suspension of the Char Dham and Hemkund Sahib pilgrimages.
Rudraprayag District Disaster Management Officer Nandan Singh Rajwar told PTI that the accident took place above the forests of Gaurikund amid poor visibility due to bad weather.
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The recent helicopter crash near Kedarnath, in which seven lives were lost, has proven yet again that aviation regulatory authorities have not learnt lessons from similar air mishaps in the challenging Kedar valley and have done little to improve flying conditions.
After chairing an emergency meeting with senior officials to discuss the situation, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said that heli services on the Char Dham route will remain suspended for two days, as the weather is bad and the safety of the passengers is the government's top priority.
Soon after the crash on Sunday, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami held an emergency meeting and asked senior officials to prepare a strict SOP (standard operating procedure) for heli services in the state, making a thorough check of the technical condition of the choppers mandatory.
Officials said around 1,300 pilgrims are stranded in Kedarnath, Bhimbali and Gaurikund, and are safe.
The Kedarnath temple, one of the 12 Jyotirlings, will open for devotees this Akshaya Tritiya and tentatively shut November 3 or Kartik Purnima November 15 or Bhai Dooj, November 20, depending on the weather.
The Indian Air Force's Chinook and MI17 helicopters on Friday joined the rescue operations in Uttarakhand to evacuate over 500 pilgrims stranded on the rain-ravaged trek route to Kedarnath, with 10 of them being airlifted in the first round.
Twelve people, including three of a family, were killed and six injured in heavy overnight rains that triggered flooding and house collapse as several rivers swelled in Uttarakhand, officials said on Thursday.
In view of the safety of the passengers, the district administration stopped the passengers at Sonprayag and Gaurikund due to continuous bad weather.
Snowfall and rain hit the Char Dham Yatra on Tuesday with thousands of pilgrims halted en route to Kedarnath and Yamunotri temples in the Garhwal Himalayas as a precautionary measure.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered prayers at the famous Kedarnath temple in Uttarakhand's Rudraprayag district on Friday.
A large Indian Air Force helicopter on Tuesday crashed during rescue operations near Gaurikund in rain-ravaged Uttarakhand, killing eight persons onboard, including five crewmembers.
Evacuation of stranded people from flood-hit areas of Uttarakhand on Saturday picked up pace with security forces rescuing 17 foreign tourists from Dharasu and sighting 1000 pilgrims stuck between Kedarnath and Gaurikund, even as bad weather hampered chopper operations at some places.
A total of 33,192 people stranded in floods-ravaged Uttarakhand have till now been rescued in the ongoing multi-agency rescue and relief operation even as thousands are still trapped or missing in the hills.
A total of 33,192 people stranded in floods-ravaged Uttarakhand have till now been rescued in the ongoing multi-agency rescue and relief operation even as thousands are still trapped or missing in the hills.
Four more bodies were recovered by IAF commandos near Gaurikund in Uttarakhand where an IAF Mi-17 helicopter carrying 20 people had crashed during a rescue mission and all onboard are feared killed.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi is trekking 18 kilometres up in the mountains of Uttarakhand to the Kedarnath Temple.
The temples committee has already posted a request to devotees on its website to contribute towards the rebuilding.
With the majority of pilgrims evacuated from Badrinath, disposal of bodies lying in affected areas and transportation of relief material to locals in flooded villages on Sunday posed a fresh challenge to authorities in Uttarakhand.
The work of manually extricating the bodies from heaps of rubble in Uttarakhand's worst flood-hit Kedarnath area was stopped on Sunday as no more body was visible to the teams engaged in the operation.
Evacuation of all people stranded in the affected areas of Uttarakhand may take many days considering the scale of devastation and any number of helicopters for rescue job is not enough, a senior army officer said on Friday.
President Pranab Mukherjee condoled the death of personnel of the IAF, Indo-Tibetan Border Police and National Disaster Response Force in a helicopter crash during rescue operations at Kedarnath in flood-ravaged Uttarakhand.
Authorities in Chamoli district said the toll may climb as about 50 persons from different villages in the area are missing and rescue operations are on.
Puja at the Kedarnath temple is set to resume on September 11. However, the yatra to the battered shrine wouldn't resume this season.
Over a month after calamity hit Uttarakhand, the state government has finally prepared a roadmap for clearing tonnes of debris left over by the destruction at Kedarnath and extricating bodies still trapped underneath the rubble at the Himalayan shrine and adjoining areas.
The official toll has now crossed the 1000 mark
An overcast sky and low visibility at places on Wednesday did not come in the way of air rescue operations in rain-hit Uttarakhand, even though a thin veil of early morning fog briefly delayed flight of choppers from Sahasradhara helipad and Jollygrant airport.
At least 50 major landslides occurred in just four road stretches in calamity-torn Uttarakhand, where hundreds of pilgrims are feared to have perished in flash floods, an official said.
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She waited for the call promised by her son in the evening but only got the heartbreaking news that Indian Air Force pilot K Praveen was no more.
The Garhwal region collectively has deposits worth Rs 2,100 crore and advances worth Rs 1,000 crore.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram told reporters after the meeting that the situation in Uttarakhand is better than what it was on Tuesday and Food Minister K V Thomas is taking steps to rush more food grains to the flood-hit Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.
With weather clearing up, relief operations on Sunday gained momentum in Uttarakhand as the government came out with a roadmap for clearing tonnes of debris and extricating bodies in Kedarnath and adjoining areas ravaged by flash floods over a month ago.
Inclement weather badly hampered cremation of bodies and removal of debris at Kedarnath on Friday besides affecting distribution of relief in over 200 segregated villages where people have lost their homes and are faced with acute foodgrain shortage.
Assessing the unprecedented destruction at rain-ravaged Uttarakhand, including 110 major landslides in small stretches, the Border Roads Organisation has taken a massive road rehabilitation programme in the state, pressing into service about 4,000 men.
There are lessons to be learnt from the Uttarakhand tragedy. Topping the list is the need to immediately stop mindless construction activity in the Himalayan hills, says Nitish Priyadarshi
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