Due to rains, the government-owned Pawan Hans and private airlines Prabhatam are partially operating their helicopter services to Kedarnath shrine at a height of 3,581 metres on Garhwal Himalayas.
"The disturbed weather has made it very difficult to operate helicopter services to Kedarnath regularly," said a Pawan Hans official.
Pawan Hans operates nearly 20 sorties on an average to Kedarnath from Fata area in Rudraprayag district.
Pawan Hans services from Augustmuni area has been completely disrupted during the past fortnight following the grounding of its chopper. "We have not operated our air service due to technical snag in the helicopter," the official added.
The sources said Pawan Hans has stopped advance booking of tickets due to bad weather conditions.
Similarly, Prabhatam is also unable to operate its chopper service regularly to Kedarnath during the past three days.
Both Prabhatam and Pawan Hans operate six-seater Bell 407 helicopters to Kedarnath. When contacted, Prabhatam Vice-President P K Chhabria said the company is not taking any booking after June 20. "We may not be able to operate after June 25," Capt Chhabria said.
Monsoon in the Himalayan region arrived a week earlier. Met Director Anand Sharma said the rains would continue in the hills for some more days.
