Modi in Kedarnath, to visit Badrinath today

Five days ahead of the election results, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday morning offered prayers at the Kedarnath shrine nestled in Garhwal Himalayas of Uttarakhand.

Early in the day, Modi arrived at Dehradun’s Jolly Grantairport and took a helicopter to Kedarnath. He was wearing a grey attire with apahari cap and a saffron gamchha around his waist.

   

Alighting from the chopper, he headed straight to the holyshrine, where he offered special prayers to Lord Shiva. Other devotees were notallowed to enter the temple during this time. The temple opens to devotees at 4a.m. daily.

Modi later took an all-terrain vehicle to go around andreview the reconstruction work in Kedarnath, which was extensively damaged inthe June 2013 deluge. Uttarakhand Chief Secretary Utpal Kumar Singh briefed himabout the restoration work.

Later in the afternoon, Modi undertook a trecherous trek tospend some time meditating at a cave called ‘Dhyan Kutia’. Following heavy rainand cold, arrangements for umbrellas and benches for sitting were made on thetrek.

The Prime Minister will spend the night at the ‘Dhyan Kutia’in Kedarnath and will fly to Badrinath on Sunday. He would return to New Delhilater on Sunday.

Security has been tightened around both the shrines in viewof the Prime Minister’s visit, said Ashok Kumar, Director General (Law andOrder).

This is the Prime Minister’s fourth visit to Kedarnath,which is perched up at a height of 11,657 feet and is surrounded by snow-cladpeaks, in the past two years.

In 2017, he visited it once in May after its gate wereopened following a six-month winter break and again in October, before thetemple again closed for the winter. He last offered prayers at the temple onDiwali in November.

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