Union Minister Nitin Gadkari told Lok Sabha that 85 per cent of the work on the new route to the holy site is completed, which will cut dependency on Nepal and China
The BRO team has converted the Tawaghat to Ghatiabgarh road to a two-lane road, making travel easier. ANI
There’s good news for those who wish to visit Kailash Mansarovar, the pilgrimage site for Hindus, Jains and Buddhists, located in Tibet Autonomous Region under China.
In Parliament on Tuesday, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said that the pilgrimage site will be accessible from Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand by the end of next year. “I don’t want to travel to Kailash Mansarovar via Nepal or China. Indians will be able to reach Mansarovar from Pithoragarh by the end of 2023. We have completed 85 per cent of the work.”
We take a look at this new route which is being carved out and why it is significant.
Reaching Kailash Mansarovar
Both Mount Kailash and Mansarovar Lake are located in the western part of Tibet, to be more exactly in Ngari Prefecture.
Both these sites have religious and cultural significance to Hindus, Jains and Buddhists.
Devotees believe that Mount Kailash is the heavenly abode of Lord Shiva. They also believe that at Kailash Mansarovar the lords reside and meditate. Lake Mansarovar, a large freshwater lake, is also considered important as legends say that the lake is a bathing place for gods during Brahma Muhurta. According to Hindu beliefs, the lake was first created in the mind of Lord Brahma and so is named Mansarovar.
Every year lakhs of pilgrims and tourists across the world visit Mansarovar to experience the beauty and piousness of the place.
At present, travel to Kailash Mansarovar takes around two to three weeks through Sikkim or Nepal routes. The first option passes through the Nathu La pass in Sikkim on the Indo-China border. This pass, perched at an altitude of 14,450 feet connects Sikkim with China’s Tibet Autonomous Region.
The other is via Lipulekh Pass linking the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand with the old trading town of Taklakot in Tibet. Located at an altitude of 17,500 feet, pilgrims have to endure the inhospitable terrain and harsh weather.
The journey is arduous in nature and hence, people have to be physically fit to apply for this pilgrimage. As per the Ministry of External Affairs, which organises the yatra, people who wish to travel to Kailash Mansarovar must not suffer from medical conditions like, diabetes, high blood pressure, asthma, epilepsy, heart disease. The selected yatris then need to accumulate in New Delhi three-four days before the commencement of the yatra.
Yatris have to undergo one more medical test to find out reactions to altitude trekking. This is done at Gunji, after five days of the yatra when they have scaled around 3,500 metres. Yatri who would be found medically unfit at Gunji aren’t allowed to continue the trip.
And it’s not just the high altitude that makes the journey arduous. Frequent landslides on the route make the terrain all the more vulnerable.
These landslides, in the past, have been fatal. In 1998, more than 180 people, including well-known Odissi dancer Protima Gauri Bedi, died in a landslide during a pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar.
New route to Kailash Mansarovar
The new route to Kailash Mansarovar from Uttarakhand involves three stretches. The first stretch is a 107.6 km-long road from Pithoragarh to Tawaghat, the second is from Tawaghat to Ghatiabgarh on a 19.5-km single lane, and the third stretch is 80-km-long from Ghatiabgarh to Lipulekh Pass at the China border, which can only be traversed on foot. This stretch takes almost five days to cover and is a tough journey.
The single-lane Tawaghat to Ghatiabgarh has now been converted into a double lane road by Border Roads Organisation (BRO). Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had inaugurated this new road in May last year. This new road reduces a five day trek to two days of road travel thus saving six days of to and fro journey.
The road from Ghatiabgarh to Lipulekh is now under construction and is expected to be completed by 2023. This road was approved in 2005 at a cost of Rs 80.76 crore and was revised in 2018 with a revised cost of Rs 439.40 crore.
This construction is significant to India for strategic and tactical reasons. The road via Pithoragarh will ensure that most of the Kailash Yatra is within Indian territory, which is not the case right now.
With inputs from agencies
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