NEW DELHI, July 9, 2013: With rains hampering aerial operations in rain-ravaged Kedarnath area, the Army today said it is opening a new land route to the holy shrine on the request of the Uttarakhand government.

"On being requested by the civil administration and the NDRF, Army has planned to open a new route to the Kedarnath shrine," an Army statement said.

"Army teams conducted a reconnaissance of the area and are planning to open a route along a fresh alignment. The new route is likely to follow the alignment from Sonprayag-Gomkar -Dev Vishnu-Dhungaj Giri-Kedarnath and will be approximately 20 km in length, passing over an altitude of over 13000 feet," it said.

In the last few days, the hill state witnessed incessant rains due to which helicopters have not been able to fly and the relief work was severely hampered. The weather cleared up only today.

The land routes had suffered extensive damage during the cloud burst and flash-floods of June 16-17 and access to the Kedarnath shrine is still cut off.

Army officials said as meteorological forecasts predict more rains in the near future, opening a new land route was the only solution to gain continued access to the shrine.

Officials said currently one team is trying to construct a crossing over the Vasuki Ganga at Sonprayag and troops for opening the route will be inducted only after this crossing is successfully made.

Source: The Times of India, DT. July 9, 2013.