The road between Almora and the road-head at Tawaghat has been washed away at several places and some major bridges damaged. Walking trails beyond Tawaghat have also suffered badly due to land-slides at several places. The State and local administrative authorities estimate that the restoration work may take up to one month to complete. The government, therefore, has cancelled the pilgrimage of registered batch nos. 2-10 for this year’s Kailash-Manasarovar Yatra. This pilgrimage is more difficult as the holy Mansarovar Lake falls in the Tibet region, now in China.

The Government is giving a second thought to the pilgrim to the icy Shivaling at Amarnath cave in the Himalayas at a height of 13,500 feet in Kashmir scheduled to begin on June 28 as intelligence reports suggest possible terror strikes.

The Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has sounded a note of caution and the central intelligence agencies too have echoed the same. The Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde is taking precaution by deploying additional forces to ensure the safety and security of the pilgrims. Last year around 620,000 pilgrims visited the icy Shivaling at Amarnath cave.

Several environmentalists have alleged that it is not the nature which is responsible for the Kedarnath tragedy or the devastation of the route to Kailash-Mansarovar Yatra. They have alleged it is a manmade problem which invited nature’s wrath. Deliberate urbanisation, construction works at river banks, hydel power projects at inappropriate places and felling of forest trees have narrowed down the course of the river and at places changed its course. The narrow course of the river could not accommodate torrential rains thus resulting in floods. The landslides was primarily due to cutting of mountain slopes.