The Kedarnath Yatra was temporarily suspended on Monday, July 7, due to heavy rain warnings issued by the weather department for Uttarakhand’s Rudraprayag and Chamoli districts. As a safety precaution, pilgrims were halted at Sonprayag and Gaurikund, key transit points on the route to the Kedarnath temple.
This marks the second disruption in recent days. Last week, the pilgrimage was paused following a landslide triggered by heavy rains at Munkatiya, near Sonprayag. Debris and rocks from the landslide blocked the road completely in the Munkatiya sliding zone, prompting the administration to suspend the yatra.
According to police, several pilgrims returning from Gaurikund became stranded in the affected area but were safely rescued by personnel from the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and brought back to Sonprayag. Officials emphasized that the suspension is a temporary, precautionary measure in light of weather-related risks.
In contrast, the Amarnath Yatra continues smoothly, with more than 8,600 pilgrims setting out from the Bhagwati Nagar base camp in Jammu early Monday morning, July 7. This brings the total number of pilgrims who have visited the sacred Amarnath cave shrine – located at an altitude of 3,880 meters – to over 70,000 since the yatra began on July 3.
With a surge in on-the-spot registrations, authorities have expanded the number of registration counters and increased the daily quota to accommodate the rising demand.
