Nainital High Court has issued a notice of contempt to the district magistrate of Rudraprayag, Saurabh Gaharwar, for disobeying the order on maintaining sanitation at the Kedarnath Yatra track.
Hearing a contempt petition filed by animal welfare activist Gauri Maulekhi, Justice Ravindra Maithani asked the DM to respond on the mechanism, which has been put in place to regularly check the cleanliness both on the route as well as in Kedarnath town. The DM was also asked to take stock on where cleanliness was ensured by manual labourers or mechanical devices were deployed.
It was also indicated in the order that the court may appoint a commissioner to physically check if any mechanism has been put in place to maintain sanitation.
In 2013, the management of the Kedarnath Yatra was taken over by the district magistrate from Zila Panchayat on the pretext that the latter was not discharging its duties regarding maintenance of the track and sanitation issues that arise out of the use of horses and mules.
In 10 years, the issue of sanitation has continued to be grave and has, in fact, worsened with carcasses of animals and slush from dung and animal urine making the Yatra a perilous and filthy experience for pedestrians, the petition said.
According to the petition, 2.5 lakh kilograms of dung and 1.5 litres of urine is generated by 14,000 equines and their carcasses are strewn along the Yatra track.
“The mountain, the people and the animals simply cannot sustain such abuse. Either the government make arrangements to manage the lakhs of kilograms of dung and urine, or reduce the number of horses used for rides to Kedarnath”, it added.