Cabinet meeting in Kedarnath rescheduled

The much-talked about meeting of Uttarakhand cabinet in Kedarnath will now be held at the Himalayan shrine on October 20 instead of October 21 as scheduled earlier.
"The meeting has been preponed keeping in view the convenience of everyone including the ministers and officials because earlier schedule of the meeting (October 21) would have coincided with Dhanteras," Chief Minister Harish Rawat's media incharge Surendra Kumar said here today.
The meeting has been rescheduled so as to ensure that no one skips the meeting due to Dhanteras festival, he said.
Speaking on the rationale behind holding the cabinet meeting at the high altitude temple, he said the chief minister wants all his cabinet colleagues to have a first hand assessment of the extent of damage caused in the Kedar valley by last year's calamity and the reconstruction work done so far so that they could come up with valid suggestions for further rebuilding efforts in the area, Kumar said.

The state government is likely to put its final seal of approval on the rehabilitation and reconstruction plan around the famous temple at the upcoming cabinet meeting.
It will be the cabinet's second meeting outside the state capital after the one held in Almora.

Clearing an elaborate action plan for rehabilitation and reconstruction work at the temple and adjoining areas is high on the state cabinet's agenda for the meeting.
The proposed meeting in Kedarnath has been talk of the town for some time as it is also aimed at sending a message to the outside world that everything is normal now at the temple and neighbouring areas which bore the brunt of last year's catastrophic floods.

The upcoming meeting is also in line with the Chief Minister's plan to hold a meeting of the cabinet outside the capital at least once in a month to impart momentum to development activities outside Dehradun.