The Uttarakhand government has banned the use of mobile phones within 200-meter radius of Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri temples in the state due to rising tourist footfalls at these revered sites.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said the chardham pilgrimage will set a new record of pilgrims footfall this season.
The State Tourism Department called it a sign of record breaking flow of pilgrims to the four shrines as the pilgrimage season is scheduled to start on May 10.
The shower coupled with the snow is billed to be a timely gift for the rabi and horticulture crops of the state.
Rescue operation of 41 workers trapped inside collapsed Silkyara-Barkot tunnel on Yamunotri highway was further delayed on Thursday due to recurring obstructions in drilling escape passages under the debris.
Around 35-40 workers are trapped inside an underconstruction tunnel on Yamunotri-Uttarkashi national highway 94 that crumbled under landslide early Sunday morning.
Traffic was stalled and disrupted on the Gangotri-Yamunotri National Highway due to the falling and piling up of debris from landslides in the region
Uttarkashi district disaster management officials said that due to heavy rains near Gangnani in the Barkot area, there has been a lot of debris and stones on the Yamunotri National Highway.
On Monday, the Meteorological Department issued an alert of rain and snowfall in the high Himalayan regions for the next 2-3 days.
Over five thousand devotees participated in the closing ceremony of Badrinath temple on Thursday.
