GSI team in Govind Ghat to conduct survey for reconstruction

PATIALA: A two-member team from Geological Survey of India (GSI) on Saturday reached Govind Ghat, the base camp for the trek to Gurdwara Hemkund Sahib in Uttarakhand, to carry out a survey and identify land for the reconstruction of buildings and other infrastructure, sources said.

The team will spend two days at Govind Ghat, Govind Dham and Hemkund Sahib areas.

Members of Shri Hemkund Sahib Management Trust (SHSMT) earlier this week met Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna and urged him to allot land for the setting up of a base camp at Govind Ghat in the interests of the Hemkund Sahib pilgrimage.

"The two-member team of Bhupendera Singh and M Thyapial may submit its report regarding land to be allotted to us by Monday," SHSMT vice-chairman Narinderjit Singh Bindra said here.

The 'langar' hall (community kitchen) and 'sarai' (inn) for the convenience of pilgrims along with parking areas and other infrastructure had been washed away in last month's floods in Uttarakhand, Bindra added.

Among the losses was a seven-storey building constructed at a huge cost in the Gurdwara Govind Ghat complex.

Part of the GSI team's brief is to establish a trek route as about 7km of a total 13km of road length from Govind Ghat to Govind Dham in the villages of Pulna and Bhyunder was completely destroyed.

Bindra also demanded that government should extend a grant for the Hemkund Trust to rebuild the infrastructure for Gurudwara Hemkund Sahib pilgrimage.