Defence minister Rajnath Singh along with minister of state for defence Ajay Bhatt, will visit Pithoragarh on November 20, to participate in the Shaheed Samman Yatra, which will start from Jhualkhet village of the district.
Ashish Chauhan, district magistrate, Pithoragarh said that the defence minister will reach Pithoragarh at 11.30 am on Saturday and after spending two hours watching the programme being organised at Jhualkhet, will leave for Bareilly at 2.15 pm. He said Rajnath Singh will be accompanied by MOS defence Ajay Bhatt and Almora Member of Parliament Ajay Tamta.
The Shaheed Samman Yatra will take off from Pithoragarh district on Saturday.
The Yatra will pay tribute to the sacrifices made by soldiers from Uttarakhand. Covering 70 blocks in 13 districts of the state, it will collect soil from the homes of 1734 martyrs till December 7. The soil will be then be used in the construction of Shainya Dham in Dehradun.
In January this year, then chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat had laid the foundation stone of Shainya Dham in Dehradun’s Purkul village. Taking a cue from Prime Minister Narendra Modi terming Uttarakhand as Shainya Dham, the fifth dham after the traditional Char Dhams, Rawat in 2019 had announced that the state government would set up Shainya Dham in Dehradun.
It will have details of the soldiers who laid down their lives for the nation. It will also house details of the rich legacy of soldiers from Uttarakhand and their contributions over the years. Last year, Rawat had made the announcement of setting up Shainya Dham while addressing a gathering of former servicemen at Shainya Sammelan organised as part of the government’s week-long state foundation day celebrations for which the theme was ‘Mere Sainik Mera Abhimaan’ (My soldiers, my pride).
{{/usCountry}}It will have details of the soldiers who laid down their lives for the nation. It will also house details of the rich legacy of soldiers from Uttarakhand and their contributions over the years. Last year, Rawat had made the announcement of setting up Shainya Dham while addressing a gathering of former servicemen at Shainya Sammelan organised as part of the government’s week-long state foundation day celebrations for which the theme was ‘Mere Sainik Mera Abhimaan’ (My soldiers, my pride).
{{/usCountry}}Prime Minister Narendra Modi during an election rally in Rudrapur in March 2019 had said that “Devbhumi Uttarakhand has Chardhams, but today I add a fifth one- Shainya Dham- as every second house in this state is of an army man.”