Rain likely to dampen President's Haridwar visit

Rain looks to play spoilsport over President Ram Nath Kovind's visit to Uttarakhand as an event scheduled for President on Saturday evening is on the verge of being cancelled.

President Kovind will be on a two-day visit to Uttarakhand, starting today, to pay homage at the Himalayan shrines of Badrinath and Kedarnath, besides worshipping the Ganga in Haridwar.

Ahead of the function, the people who had gathered to attend President Kovind's are distressed over the possibility of the event being cancelled.

"We wanted to meet the President. But, because of the rain for the past two days, everything has been spoilt. Everyone is trying to get rid of the water in the pandal but all of it is proving to be useless," said one of the supporters.

This will be President Kovind's first visit to the state after assuming the office.

The President will first go to Haridwar to worship the Ganga and take a pledge for conserving the river at Har Ki Pauri ghat. He will be the second president, after Pranab Mukherjee, to take a Ganga conservation pledge.

He will also visit the Seva Kunj Ashram in Haridwar, which works for lepers and the physically challenged.

On Sunday morning, after a tree plantation programme at Raj Bhawan, the President will leave for Kedarnath and Badrinath.

Tight security arrangements have been made in view of his visit, with security drills conducted in Dehradun.

Meanwhile the Met department has warned of heavy rain in many areas of Uttarkhand on Saturday.

These areas are Nainital, US Nagar, Pithoragarh, Champawat, Pauri, Haridwar and Dehradun districts.

All district magistrates have been asked to remain attentive and keep disaster response mechanism ready to deal with emergency situations.