Under the eyes of Uttarakhand officials, a temple appears on a glacier

The district administration of Bageshwar in Uttarakhand has formed a collaborative team comprising personnel from the revenue, forest, and police departments to investigate the claims of encroachment by a self-styled godman. The individual in question is said to have built an unauthorized temple at an elevation approx 5,000 meters in the Sunderdhanga glacier area of the district, according to officials on Tuesday. The officials state that because the path is hazardous, the investigative team will only hike to the area once the monsoon season ends.

The issue gained attention after a few locals from the 38-kilometer-distance Badiyakot hamlet approached the District Magistrate with grievances over Baba Yogi Chaitanya Akash, who is also charged with breaking custom by taking a dip in the nearby holy lake. In the Sunderdhanga glacier area, a meadow next to a lake is home to a temple made of metal sheets and stones. The closest community is more than 30 km away, and people usually go there in quest of rare medicinal fungi like Keedajadi or fodder with permission from the forest authority.