Adityanath, Rawat visit Kedarnath

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his Uttarakhand counterpart Trivendra Singh Rawat paid a visit to Kedarnath on Sunday to offer prayers at the Himalayan temple. The two chief ministers will perform a puja at the temple late on Sunday night and also take part in its closure ceremony on Monday morning, Garhwal IG Abhinav Kumar said.

Kedarnath temple is scheduled to close for winters on Monday. Adityanath and Rawat also took stock of the reconstruction projects underway at Kedarpuri.

Later talking to reporters, Adityanath said the reconstruction work was being carried out on a war footing in accordance with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision. He thanked the prime minister for providing a vision for the rehabilitation of the ancient temple and nearby areas which were ravaged by the 2013 tragedy.

He said rehabilitation of centres of faith like Kedarnath is important as they represent the essence of India's cultural and religious identity. The UP chief minister said he was visiting Kedarnath after 12-13 years and he will pray for the well being of people of Uttar Pradesh and the entire country under the leadership of Modi. Earlier, Adityanath was received at the Jollygrant airport by Rawat and they left together for Kedarnath.

Both chief ministers will also visit Badrinath on Monday for a darshan. Adityanath is also scheduled to lay the foundation stone of a tourist guest house of Uttar Pradesh government at Badrinath.