Dehradun: Prime Minister on Friday reached Kedarnath Dham amidst tight security arrangements, where he will unveil the idol of Adi Guru Shankaracharya. Earlier, he reached Jolly Grant airport near Dehradun where he was received by Governor Lt Gen (Retd) Gurmeet Singh and Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami among others. From there he left for Kedarnath directly by helicopter.
A 12 feet tall and 35 tonnes weight statue of Shankaracharya has been installed in Kedarnath. Prime Minister will also inaugurate the Samadhi Sthal of Shankaracharya which was damaged in the 2013 natural calamity. Along with visiting Baba Kedarnath, he will also inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of works worth more than Rs 400 crore in Kedarnath.
Earlier, the Chief Minister had visited Kedarnath on Wednesday to take stock of the arrangements related to the Prime Minister’s arrival. During this, he also held talks with the Teerth Purohits and representatives of Panda Samaj demanding the dissolution of the Devasthanam Board. Dhami said that everyone is ready to welcome the Prime Minister. He said that he had come to see the preparations before the arrival of Prime Minister Modi and all the preparations have been done properly.
He said that Prime Minister has special faith and reverence for Baba Kedarnath and has a “vision” to develop Uttarakhand as the spiritual and cultural capital of the world, where people from all over the world will come for spiritual peace. He said, “For the first time in modern history, Kedarnath Dham is being rebuilt on such a large scale. The work of the first phase like the construction of Saraswati Ghat and Aastha Path has been done. The work for the second phase is starting.
Dhami said that Modi’s program would be telecast live and pagodas, Jyotirlingas, monasteries of Shankaracharya, and his birthplace across the country would be directly connected to Kedarnath during this period.
