CM inspects Kedarnath reconstruction works

Trivendra Rawat announces more facilities for pilgrims visiting the shrine during the Chardham pilgrimage next year. He says two separate tracks connecting Gaurikund with Kedarnath will be laid.

DEHRADUN: Chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat on Saturday carried out inspection of the works relating to the Kedarnath reconstruction project and directed officials to ensure that the premises of the fabled shrine was expanded by 16 feet.

Chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat inspects reconstruction works at Kedarnath on Saturday. (HT Photo)

Rawat asked officials to have the entire path from the shrine premises up to the Circle Point paved with traditional style stones. “Paving that path with traditional style stones will make the shrine area appear more graceful, besides attracting the yatris (pilgrims),” he said, monitoring the reconstruction works being carried out at Kedarnath.

The shrine town was ravaged by the calamitous flash floods that struck Kedarnath in 2013. Chief secretary Utpal Kumar Singh and Rudraprayag district magistrate Mangesh Ghildiyal accompanied the chief minister to the shrine town.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stones for the much publicised Kedarnath reconstruction project on October 20.

Rawat announced that more facilities would be provided to the pilgrims visiting the shrine during the Chardham pilgrimage next year. He said two separate tracks connecting Gaurikund with Kedarnath would be laid. “One of these (tracks) would be meant for the pilgrims ferried on horses and mules. The other for those (pilgrims) who will undertake the journey up to the shrine on foot,” an official note quoted Rawat as saying. He also inspected the flood protection works being carried out along the Saraswati and Mandakini rivers.

Later, Ghildiyal said reconstruction works were being carried out in Kedarnath keeping in mind with the fragile environment of the Kedarnath Valley.