In a bid to speed up reconstruction of roads on 'char dham' pilgrimage route, Uttarakhand government today decided to deploy 800 workers on the Gaurikund-Rambada stretch en route to Kedarnath.
The decision to increase the number of workers on the stretch was taken at a meeting of senior officials convened by Chief Secretary Subhash Kumar to review road repair exercise in Kedar Valley, officials said.
The number of workers was increased to 425 after the Chief Secretary visited Kedar Valley last week for an on-the-spot inspection, but now a decision to further increase their strength to at least 800 on Gaurikund-Rambada stretch alone had been taken to expedite work, they said.
Fifty workers from each of the PWD divisions would be deployed there and their wages might also be increased under special circumstances, said the officials after the meeting.
The Chief Secretary, meanwhile, said work was underway on a war footing with the focus on two prominent stretches of 500 metres each and 12 slide zones.
The number of engineers, equipment and workers are being increased.
Work on two bridges in Rambada and construction of helipads at Linchauli and Kedarnath was also going on at a fast pace, he said.
The Rudraprayag DM had been asked to monitor work on Sonprayag-Gaurikund road in coordination with the BRO.
The National Institute of Mountaineering is conducting the construction work from Rambada to Kedarnath.
Work was also in progress over putting up 500 sodium lights between Gaurikund and Kedarnath, he said.
Similarly, 55 pre-engineered huts had to be built in the valley, five of which will be in Sonprayag, seven in Gaurikund, five in Jangalchatti, nine in Bhimbali, 14 in Linchauli, and 15 in Kedarnath, he said.
Apart from these, shelter homes with a capacity of 500 persons each were being constructed between Linchauli and Kedarnath, he said.
Instructions were also issued to deploy 100 SDRF jawans in Kedar valley, the Chief Secretary said.
