Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered prayers at the famous Kedarnath and Badrinath temples in Uttarakhand on Friday.
After performing a “puja” at the Kedarnath temple in Rudraprayag district, the prime minister arrived at the Badrinath temple in Chamoli in a helicopter.
During his two-day tour of the state, Modi will inspect various ongoing development projects and lay the foundation stones for some new ones.
The prime minister performed the “puja” at the temples wearing a white traditional attire of the hill people with a swastika embroidered on it.
At Kedarnath, he also laid the foundation stone for the 9.7-km Gaurikund-Kedarnath ropeway project. Using the ropeway, devotees will be able to reach the temple from Gaurikund in 30 minutes.
The priests who performed the “puja” prayed for strength to the prime minister to take the country forward.
Modi also visited the Samadhi Sthal of Adi Guru Shankaracharya at Kedarnath and spent some time there.
At Badrinath Dham, he will review the progress of the development projects along the riverfront.
In the afternoon, Modi will lay the foundation stones for road and ropeway projects worth Rs 3,400 crore for the Kedarnath and Badrinath temples and address a gathering at Mana village. He will also review the progress of the beautification project of the Arrival Plaza and the lakes in the area.
The prime minister will spend the night at Badrinath.
PM Narendra Modi at Badrinath Temple, in Uttarakhand on 21 October. (Credit: PIB New Delhi)
Earlier in the day, the prime minister was received by Governor Lieutenant General Gurmit Singh, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and Union minister Ajay Bhatt on his arrival at the Jolly Grant airport in Dehradun in an Indian Air Force (IAF) plane.
This is Modi’s sixth visit to Kedarnath and second to Badrinath as the prime minister.
Security has been tightened around the two famous hill temples in view of the prime minister’s visit. Both the temples have been decorated with quintals of flowers.
Kedarnath is one of the most important Hindu shrines. The temple is not directly accessible by road and has to be reached by a 22 kilometres (14 mi) uphill trek from Gaurikund. Pony, mule and manchan and service is available to reach the temple.
Since the opening of the doors of the Kedarnath shrine in May this year, 1,44,832 pilgrims have travelled to the temple by helicopter. At present, eight companies are providing helicopter services to Kedarnath.
A helicopter ferrying pilgrims from Kedarnath temple to Guptkashi crashed into a hill amid dense fog on 18 October 2022, killing all seven people on board.
Badrinath temple is one of the most visited pilgrimage centers of India, having recorded 2.8 million (28 lakh) visits in just 2 months in 2022. It is open for six months every year (between the end of April and the beginning of November), because of extreme weather conditions in the Himalayan region
