Badrinath restoration an uphill task
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), which will start the restoration work on the damaged Kedarnath temple, faces an uphill task. While the state government is yet to give clearance for using helicopter so that the experts can visit the site, with the temple being unprotected, the restoration work will be a big challenge for the experts.
So far, the experts have only got to know that the flash floods resulted in damaging the eastern gate, the western door and the temple’s northeastern portion of the 11th century temple. “We are expecting to get the clearance from the state government by next week after which experts will visit the site and assess the details of the damage. The ASI team reached Dehra Dun on June 29. However, they could not reach the damaged shrine due to bad weather,” ASI director-general (DG) Pravin Srivastava told this newspaper.
Situated at an altitude of 11,000 feet, the shrine is not a ASI protected monument, which means that the ASI do not have any original drawings of the Uttarakhand shrine, thereby, will make it difficult for the experts to proceed for the restoration work. Experts have some photographs of the shrine dating from 2006 and 2012 only.
The Centre had earlier in 2006 tried to bring the shrine under the protection of the ASI. However, the move was opposed by the Badrinath Kedarnath Temple Committee.
In 2006, the plan was mooted by the NDA government. However, the mandatory permission from the owners could never be received. The permission is needed from the those managing it before bringing it under the Central protection. The shrine committee had their reasons and had their objections on the restrictions that comes when a monument becomes an ASI protected.
Sources say that the last year in October, the temple committee — worried about the decay of the temple — had approached the ASI after which a team was sent for inspection. However, the visit did not lead to any results.
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