ASI to take up restoration work at Kedarnath

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) will restore Kedarnath Temple which was damaged in the recent Uttarakhand flash floods.

 “Kedarnath temple will be restored to its original glory. Its structure will be restored as it was. No change in its structure will be made,” Union Culture Minister Chandresh Kumari Katoch said here on Wednesday.

The minister declined to set a timeframe for completing the work.

A seven-member team of ASI officials and experts that recently visited the shrine to assess the damage had to return without its mission fulfilled as inclement weather prevented it from reaching the valley.

 “The team reached the state on June 29 and was scheduled to be airlifted with the help of an Indian Air Force helicopter so that it could land directly in Kedarnath. Unfortunately, despite the ASI team along with the members of Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Geological Survey of India (GSI) and others, boarded the helicopter on 30 June, the sortie did not take off due to bad weather in Kedarnath,” the Minister said.

Once the weather clears, the ASI team will visit the state later for damage assessment.
“The temple has suffered a lot of damage,” the Minister said.

The ASI team will look at the impact of the flash flood and loose boulders on the temple structure and prepare a preliminary report to suggest measures for conservation and disaster mitigation.