ASI expert team to visit Kedarnath to assess damage

Dehradun, June 29: A team of experts from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is set to visit the Kedarnath temple in Uttarakhand to examine the extent of damage caused to the historic structure by the recent floods and landslides.

The team will comprise five experts from Dehradun and Delhi and it is also expected to make suggestion on how to restore the shrine and its surroundings, official sources said. The Uttarakhand government reportedly asked the ministry of culture to take the ASI's help in assessing the damage caused although the shrine is not an ASI-protected site.

The team is likely to reach by air.

Pravin Srivastave, the director general of the ASI said the expert team would make an estimation of the work that would be required for restoring the structure.

While the experts and authorities are concerned about the structural damage to the shrine, priests are worried over the idol, which is shifted from Kedarnath to Omkareshwar temple at Ukhimath, about 61 kilometres away, during the winter and brought back again in May.

This year, the idol was moved to Ukhimath after the June 16 rain and the chief priest of the temple decided to conduct the puja at Ukhimath itself. This did not go down well with the spiritual leaders who said the idol could not be worshipped at Ukhimath before November.

The Kedarnath temple is believed to be in existence for over 1,000 years while its current structure was built about 500 years ago.

OneIndia News