Uttarakhand CM reaches out to angry Kedarnath priests ahead of Modi visit

Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Wednesday reached out to priests of the Kedarnath shrine, who are up in arms against the government's decision to take over control of temples in the state.

The priests at the temple town nestled in the Garhwal Himalayas had resorted to sloganeering and waving black flags during the visit of former chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, forcing him to return without visiting the shrine dedicated to Lord Shiva.

The priests are upset at the decision taken during Rawat's tenure to set up a Devasthanam Board to manage the temples in the hill state, including the Char Dham shrines at Gangotri, Yamunotri, Badrinath and Kedarnath.

“There will be no harm to the dignity of the priests at the pilgrimage shrines,” Dhami said, adding that the government was always ready to uphold their honour in a constructive and development-oriented manner.

Earlier, Dhami had also discussed the issues raised by the priests with Manohar Kant Dhyani, who heads the high-level committee to examine the demand to roll back the decision to set up the Devasthanam Board.

Modi is visiting Kedarnath on Friday when he will inaugurate the key infrastructure projects such as Saraswati Retaining Wall Aasthapath and Ghats, Mandakini Retaining Wall Aasthapath, Tirth Purohit Houses and Garud Chatti bridge on river Mandakini.

He will also inaugurate the re-developed samadhi of Adi Shankaracharya and unveil a 12-foot statue of the spiritual master in the Garhwal Himalayan.

The samadhi of Shankaracharya was destroyed in the 2013 floods in Uttarakhand and Modi had taken personal interest in the redevelopment of the temple town.

The statue of Shankaracharya in a sitting posture has been chiseled from Krishnashila stone by Mysuru-based sculptor Arun Yogiraj and weighs 35 tonnes.

It was flown onboard a Chinook helicopter to Kedarnath last month.

Elections are due in Uttarakhand early next year and BJP is all set to project a slew of development works among the achievements of the “double-engine” government