Garhwal Commissioner Vinay Shankar Pandey was appointed the nodal officer for basic infrastructure restoration work on the Kedarnath trek route.

Dhami, who held a virtual meeting with officials to take an update on the ongoing rescue operations along the trek route, directed secretaries of the disaster management department and the PWD to visit the affected area and speed up the restoration exercise.

Rudraprayag District Magistrate Saurabh Gaharwar said if the weather is conducive clearing the trek route to the Himalayan temple of debris and boulders, and restoring it might take one week whereas work on repairing a 150-metre breached stretch of the route will soon begin.

Disaster Management Secretary Vinod Kumar Suman said efforts are on to evacuate the 1,000 remaining pilgrims en route the Himalayan temple. However, they are all safe and well looked after, he said.

Since the start of rescue operations on Thursday morning 9,099 pilgrims have been evacuated to safety, Suman said.

However, a release from the state disaster management department on Friday night had put the number of pilgrims evacuated since the start of operations on August 1 at 10,715.

The IAF’s Chinook and MI17 helicopters are aiding in the rescue operations. It is likely to gather further momentum with Cheerbasa helipad, which was also damaged in the recent spell of heavy rain, now fully repaired and made operational by the SDRF.