Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district’s Badrinath Dham welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday.
PM Modi travelled to Rudraprayag’s Kedarnath Dham before landing in Chamoli, where he performed prayers while dressed in a traditional pahadi outfit called a Chola Dora that Himachali ladies gave him while he was on the state’s tour. Governor Lt Gen (Retd) Gurmeet Singh and Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami welcomed PM Modi as he arrived at Dehradun’s Jolly Grant airport earlier in the day.
He then laid the cornerstone for the Kedarnath ropeway project before going to the Samadhi Sthal of Adi Guru Shankaracharya.
Additionally, he examined the state of the construction projects along Saraswati Asthapath and Mandakini Asthapath.
The Prime Minister is in the Himalayan state to dedicate construction projects totaling more than Rs 3,400 crore.
PM Modi is set to perform devotional services in Badrinath, review the status of the riverside development project, and then lay the cornerstone for the road and ropeway construction at Mana Village. He will assess how the arrival plaza and lakes are being developed.
The 9.7 km long Kedarnath ropeway will connect Gaurikund and Kedarnath, cutting the current travel time between the two locations from 6-7 hours to barely 30 minutes. Govindghat and Hemkund Sahib will be connected by the Hemkund ropeway. It will be around 12.4 km long and cut down the journey from more than a day to only a little over an hour. According to the PMO statement, this ropeway will also connect Ghangaria, which serves as the park’s entrance.
The ropeways are an environmentally friendly mode of transportation that will offer a safe, secure, and stable mode of transportation. They will be constructed at a total cost of about Rs 2,430 crore.
This significant infrastructural improvement will encourage religious travel, which in turn will stimulate regional economic growth and generate a number of job possibilities.
A foundation stone will also be placed during the visit for road widening projects estimated to cost Rs. 1000 crore. The two road widening projects—from Mana to Mana Pass (NH07) and from Joshimath to Malari (NH107B)—will be a further step in ensuring that our border regions have a last-mile all-weather road connection. These initiatives will improve connectivity while also being advantageous from a strategic standpoint.
Some of the most significant Hindu sites include Kedarnath and Badrinath.
Another draw to the region is Hemkund Sahib, a famed Sikh pilgrimage site. The connectivity projects are designed to make religious sites more accessible and to upgrade the foundational infrastructure.