Kedarnath priests gherao senior IAS officer over demolition work

Dehradun: Senior IAS officer Arvind Pandey on Wednesday faced a gherao by priests and traders in Kedarnath over the demolition work in the area when he visited the Himalayan temple to pay obeisance.

Pandey, who is now the secretary of the state information commission, was not allowed to leave for several hours and could go only after the intervention of Ukhimath SDM Anil Shukla who assured the protesting priests and traders of looking into their grievances, president of Kedar Sabha - a body of priests in Kedarnath - Rajkumar Tiwari told PTI.

"They detained him after he had offered prayers at the temple and was taking a round of Kedarpuri to review the reconstruction works undertaken there," he said.

The local priests and traders were angry with Pandey because he had not kept the promises he made as additional secretary in the state government, Tiwari said.

Roads in front of their residences and shops had been dug in the name of reconstruction sometime before the start of the Yatra season this year.

"Our demands remained unfulfilled," he said.

According to Tiwari, the gherao lasted eight hours.

When contacted, Shukla said the priests and traders have put forward some demands which have to be forwarded to the state government.