Rtd principal rediscovers long-forgotten cave near Pithoragarh

Pithoragarh: A 75-year-old retired principal, Laxmi Datt Sharma, has rediscovered a long-forgotten cave located about 25 km from Pithoragarh town on the Rasaipata–Kaushal route. Sharma, who earlier served as principal of an inter-college in Rasaipata near his native village Muddi, said the cave had remained abandoned for decades after an incident in his childhood."In my childhood, two boys from the village — Keshav Datt Bhatt and Shiv Datt Bhatt — had entered the cave while grazing cattle, carrying a small pine torch. The flame went out inside, and they lost their way. Villagers managed to locate them after nearly 24 hours. After that incident, people stopped going near the cave, and its entrance gradually got buried under forest growth and debris," Sharma said.After retiring in 2013 and returning to his village, Sharma decided to locate the cave again. He first contacted Shiv Datt Bhatt, now 78 and living in Khatema in Udham Singh Nagar district, who helped him identify the location and even drew a rough map of the area.Over the past six months, Sharma and a few labourers cleared nearly 50 metres of debris and vegetation around the cave entrance, reopening the site. "There are bats inside the cave and natural formations resembling figures of gods and animals. Water also drips from one point inside," Sharma said, adding that further efforts will be made to explore deeper sections.Tourism officials said the site will soon be inspected. "Our team will visit the cave at Rasaipata and prepare a report," said Tarun Mahar of the Berinag Kafal Hill Foundation. District tourism officer Kirti Arya said the tourism department and regional archaeological authorities would also survey the cave and take further action accordingly.