Modi offers prayers at Kedarnath, lays foundation stone for ropeway

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday offered rudrabhishek (first prayers) at Uttarakhand’s Kedarnath shrine and laid the foundation stone for a ropeway to be built at a cost of ₹1267 crore for the pilgrims.

The 9.7 km ropeway to Kedarnath will cut the time pilgrims take to reach the shrine from Gaurikund.

Dressed in traditional Uttarakhandi clothes, Modi offered prayers at the Samadhi Sthal of Adi Shankaracharya. Governor Gurmit Singh and chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami accompanied him.

Modi took stock of the reconstruction and development works in Kedarnath. Dhami briefed Modi about the progress of the work. Modi also interacted with the workers engaged in the work before leaving for Badrinath to offer prayers there.

He will take stock of the works being undertaken under the Badrinath Master Plan, address a public meeting at Mana, around 5 km away, and lay the foundation stone for a ropeway in Hemkund.

Officials said the reconstruction works under the first phase in Kedarnath have been completed. In the second phase, 21 works worth ₹188 crores are underway and will be completed by December 2023.

Last month, Modi reviewed the reconstruction and development works in Badrinath and Kedarnath virtually from New Delhi. He stressed on development of the surrounding areas of the Himalayan shrines. He said the number of devotees in Kedarnath and Badrinath would increase rapidly as nearby places will also be developed to promote spiritual tourism.

In October 2017, Modi laid the foundation stones of five reconstruction projects at Kedarnath, including that of the Samadhi Sthal of Adi Shankaracharya, an early eighth-century seer and the founder of the Vedanta school of philosophy. Modi also visited the Rudra meditation cave in Kedarnath in May 2019.

Tens of thousands of pilgrims annually visit the Kedarnath, Badrinath, Yamunotri, and Gangotri shrines collectively called Char Dham. A record 4.2 million devotees visited the shrines this year.

The Char Dham pilgrimage begins from Yamunotri in the west. It then proceeds to Gangotri and finally to Kedarnath and Badrinath.

Nearly 3,500 metres above the sea level, Kedarnath is located near the Mandakini river in the Rudraprayag district. The Pandavas are believed to have built the shrine and Adi Shankaracharya revived it. Kedarnath suffered damages when flash floods hit in 2013.