Page 54 - Uttarakhand

Sacred portals of Kedarnath Dham closed for winter season from today

The sacred portals of the Kedarnath Dham located in the high Garhwal Himalayan region of Uttarakhand were closed for winter on Thursday. Sources in the Badrinath Kedarnath Temple Committee said the doors of the temple were closed for the devotees at 8.30 am after offering prayers amid chanting of vedic hymns. More than 3,000 devotees along with temple committee president Ajendra Ajay, teerth purohit and officials of the Rudraprayag district administration were present on the occasion, while the Indian Army's 11th Maratha Regiment played devotional tunes. Over 43 lakh pilgrims reached Chardham this year. In Kedarnath alone, 15,61,882 devotees paid obeisance at the temple. The media in-charge of the temple committee, Dr. Harish Gaur said the Kedarnath temple opened its portals at 3 am and the process of closing the doors for the winter started at 4 am. The sanctum sanctorum and the main gate of the temple were closed after temple priest T. Gangadhar Linga covered the 'jyotirlinga' w

Uttarakhand: Former DGP, 7 others accused of illegal forest land possession

Former Uttarakhand DGP B S Sidhu and seven others have been booked for an illegal possession of forest land and subsequently cutting 25 "sal" trees. The case has been registered at the Rajpur police station by Mussoorie Divisional Forest Officer Ashutosh Singh after getting permission from the Uttarakhand government, police said here. A police officer said it was alleged in the complaint that Sidhu in 2012 bought one-and-a-half hectares of land in Virgirwali village of the Mussoorie forest division and cut 25 "sal" trees. On receiving information, the state Forest Department conducted an inquiry, in which it came to light that the trees were planted on reserve forest land. The Forest Department had also challaned Sidhu. Later, the registry of the land in Sidhu's name was also cancelled and permission was sought from the government to file a case against him. Sidhu has been the Director General of Police (DGP) from September 2013 to April 2016. The case has been registered under .

Saudi Aramco exec spent week in Chamoli jail, released after Rs 1k fine

Saudi Aramco's top executive spent nearly a week in a Uttarakhand jail after he was arrested in July for carrying a satellite phone without proper permission from authorities

Badrinath-Kedarnath temple doors to remain closed on Oct 25 solar eclipse

Doors of Shri Badrinath-Kedarnath temple will remain closed on October 25 on the solar eclipse, said the temple committee

Take suo motu action against hate speeches, register cases immediately: SC

Calling hate speeches a "very serious issue", the Supreme Court Friday directed Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand governments to promptly register criminal cases against the culprits without waiting for a complaint to be filed. It warned any delay on the part of the administration will invite the court's contempt. A bench of Justices K M Joseph and Hrishikesh Roy also issued notices to the two state governments on a petition filed by a man named Shaheen Abdullah. It said action should be taken against those making hate speeches irrespective of their religion to preserve the secular fabric of the nation.

PM Narendra Modi offers prayers at Kedarnath temple in Uttarakhand

Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered prayers at the famous Kedarnath temple in Uttarakhand's Rudraprayag district on Friday. Wearing a white-coloured traditional attire of the hill people with a "swastika" symbol embroidered on it, the prime minister performed a "puja" at the temple. He is also scheduled to visit the Badrinath temple later in the day. During his two-day tour of the state, Modi will inspect various ongoing development projects and lay the foundation stones of some new ones. On his arrival at the Jolly Grant airport in Dehradun, the prime minister was received by Governor Lieutenant General Gurmit Singh, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and Union minister Ajay Bhatt. After performing the "puja" at the Kedarnath temple, the prime minister will lay the foundation stone of the 9.7-km Gaurikund-Kedarnath ropeway project. During his two-and-a-half-hour-long programme at Kedarnath, Modi is also scheduled visit the Samadhi Sthal of Adi Guru Shankaracharya. At Badrinath

Uttarakhand High Court asks SIT to file status report in Ankita murder case

The Uttarakhand High Court on Thursday directed the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Ankita Bhandari murder case to file a status report along with the case diary. A single bench of Justice Sanjay Kumar Mishra passed the order while hearing a petition filed by Ashutosh Negi, a resident of Pauri Garhwal. The court has fixed November 3 for the next hearing of the matter. The petition has requested to hand over the investigation of the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Bhandari (19) was allegedly killed by the owner of a resort where she worked as a receptionist. It has been alleged that after the murder, important evidence related to the crime was destroyed on the instructions of Yamkeshwar MLA Renu Bisht by running a bulldozer at Vanantra Resort. Bhandari was allegedly killed by the resort owner owner Pulkit Arya, manager Saurabh Bhaskar and assistant manager Ankit Gupta when she resisted their attempts to force her to offer "extra services" to a VIP

Ahead of PM Modi's visit, Uttarakhand CM conducts inspections in Badrinath

Ahead of the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi this month, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Wednesday inspected the ongoing works in Badrinath Dham.PM Modi will visit Uttarakhand on October 21 where he will lay the foundation stone of connectivity projects worth around Rs 3,500 crore.The Chief Minister also offered prayers at the shrine there.Speaking to ANI here, CM Dhami said that PM Modi will lay the foundation stone of a few roads and Hemkund Ropeway."Work is going on swiftly on Badrinath Master Plan. We have made the target to finish all the work by December 2023. PM will arrive here (in the state) on Oct 21 and he will lay the foundation stone of a few roads and Hemkund Ropeway," he said.The CM further said that PM Modi will also visit Kedarnath to lay the foundation stone of the cable car.The Prime Minister will also address a public rally in Kedarnath."He will also go to Kedarnath Dham where he will lay the foundation stone of the Kedarnath Cable car. PM ..

Allahabad HC gives 'last chance' to ASI to file reply in Gyanvapi case

The Allahabad High Court has granted a 'last chance' to the Director General of ASI to comply with its earlier order and file a reply (counter-affidavit)

Prime Minister to visit Gujarat, Uttarakhand and UP in run-up to Diwali

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going to have a jam-packed schedule in the run-up to Diwali with back-to-back visits to Gujarat, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh starting Wednesday till October 23

Seven killed as helicopter ferrying pilgrims crashes near Kedarnath

After the crash, the state civil aviation department suspended all the helicopter flights to Kedarnath

Seven dead as helicopter ferrying Kedarnath pilgrims crashes

A helicopter carrying pilgrims from Guptkashi to Kedarnath crashed near Jangalchatti on Tuesday, sources said. Seven people, including the pilot, are feared killed, they said. Fog and poor visibility are said to be the reason for the crash. A team has been dispatched to the accident spot to carry out relief operations.

Many times UP cops arrest innocent, claims top Uttarakhand officer

Uttarakhand Additional Chief Secretary Radha Raturi got into a war of words with the Uttar Pradesh Police on Monday with the latter accusing her of making "irresponsible" statements, days after an unsuccessful raid in the hill state to nab an alleged sand mining mafia led to the death of a local BJP leader's wife. At a press conference, Uttarakhand's Additional Chief Secretary Radha Raturi said crimes should be investigated properly and the guilty should be punished, not the innocent. "Many times, the Uttar Pradesh Police catch innocent persons and claim they are guilty. It should not be like that. Catching one innocent person may lead to the rise of 99 more wrongdoers," she said. Taking strong exception to the statement, the Uttar Pradesh Police termed it "irresponsible" and suggested that a civil servant should refrain from such comments. In Lucknow, Additional Director General, (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar said, "The Uttar Pradesh Police has seen and heard the statement of the

Uttarakhand avalanche: Search for two mountaineers continues for 11th day

Search for the two mountaineers who continue to be missing after the October 4 avalanche in the district went on for the 11th day on Friday amid bad weather. Meanwhile, one more body recovered earlier was brought to the district hospital here to be handed over to the relatives after a post-mortem. Inclement weather at the avalanche site located at an altitude of 17,000 feet near Draupadi ka Danda-II peak has been hampering search and rescue efforts for nearly a week. Two mountaineers out of a team of 29 are still missing, Registrar of Nehru Institute of Mountaineering Vishal Ranjan said. Twenty-seven bodies have already been recovered and brought down, he said. Those who went missing after the avalanche are said to have fallen into a crevasse. However, the body of trainee mountaineer Sourav Biswas from West Bengal, which had been recovered earlier was brought to the ITBP camp at Matli and then to the district hospital here on Friday, he said. The body will be handed over to rel

Uttarkashi avalanche: Five more bodies discovered, brought back to Matli

Bodies of five more avalanche victims were brought to the ITBP camp in Matli on Monday, even as continuous snowfall hampered the efforts to locate two mountaineers still missing. The discovery of five more bodies on Monday takes the number of bodies brought down from the summit camp so far to 26, Uttarkashi District Magistrate Abhishek Ruhela said. "One body is still at the summit camp while search for the two missing mountaineers continues," he said. Twenty-nine climbers, including 27 trainees and two instructors, who were part of an advanced mountaineering course at the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering had gone missing after they were struck by a massive avalanche at an altitude of 17,000 feet on their way back from Draupadi ka Danda-II peak on October 4. A multi-agency search-and-rescue operations by the SDRF, ITBP, Army and IAF was launched on the same day, which still continues. "Continuous snowfall over the avalanche-hit site is hampering search operation. But efforts to fi

Campaign to continue till all accused caught: CM Dhami on UKSSSC exam row

After the arrest of former controller of the UKSSSC examination RS Pokharia, CM Pushkar Singh Dhami said that the campaign will continue till all the accused are caught

Uttarakhand: Bad weather hampers rescue efforts for missing mountaineers

Search efforts for the three missing mountaineers were hamstrung by heavy snowfall on Friday over the avalanche-hit site near the Draupadi ka Danda' peak. Twenty-nine members of a team from Nehru Institute of Mountaineering had gone missing after an avalanche hit them on their way back from the summit, according to the NIM. Twenty-six bodies have since been recovered and three are still missing. Four out of twenty six bodies retrieved so far have already been handed over to their families. Efforts are on to bring down the rest. With weather conditions obstructing the search efforts, relatives who have come to Uttarkashi from different parts of the country are getting impatient. Aerial rescue operations can be resumed only after the weather improves, District Disaster Management Officer Devendra Patwal said.

Uttarkashi avalanche: 10 more bodies recovered, toll climbs to 26

Ten more bodies were recovered from the site of an avalanche here, taking the death toll to 26, the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering said on Friday. Two Cheetah helicopters took off from the Army helipad in Harsil to join the search operations, officials said. The avalanche occurred at a height of 17,000 feet on Tuesday when a team of the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM) was returning after summiting Draupadi Ka Danda II peak. Three more bodies were recovered from the avalanche site late on Thursday evening and seven were found on Friday, taking the total number of bodies retrieved so far to 26, the NIM said. While 24 of these bodies are of trainee mountaineers, two are of their instructors, it said. According to the NIM, three trainees are still missing. Fifteen bodies were recovered on Thursday, the NIM said. Four of the bodies that were being brought to Matli were taken to the Harsil helipad due to bad weather. From there, they were sent to Uttarkashi in ambulances, .

Uttarkashi avalanche: 12 more bodies retrieved, death toll rises to 16

The death toll in the Uttarkashi avalanche rose to 16 after 12 more mountaineers' bodies were recovered on Thursday, Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM) said. Fifteen climbers are still believed to be missing. The avalanche occurred at a height of 17,000 feet on Tuesday when the NIM team was returning after summiting Draupadi Ka Danda II peak. Of the 16 bodies retrieved, 14 are of trainees and two of instructors, NIM said in a bulletin. Four bodies were recovered on the day of the avalanche. A search-and-rescue operation is in progress at the disaster site, the institute said. However, helicopters were pulled from the operation due to bad weather. Their operation will resume on Friday morning depending on the weather, it added. Earlier in the day, a 14-member team from High Altitude Warfare School based in Gulmarg in Jammu and Kashmir joined the rescue operation, the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC) here said. Nayab Subedar Anil Kumar, the instructor leading the team,

33 killed as bus carrying marriage party falls into gorge in Uttarakhand

At least 25 people were killed and 20 others injured when a bus carrying 45-50 members of a marriage party fell into a gorge in Uttarakhand's Pauri Garhwal district, police said on Wednesday. The bus was on its way to Kanda village in Bironkhal from Laldhang town in Haridwar when it fell into a 500-metre gorge near Simri bend at around 7 pm on Tuesday, they said. Rescue operations were carried out throughout the night, police said, adding four bodies have been retrieved so far. Twenty people injured in the accident were pulled out of the mangled remains of the bus and rushed to hospitals in Bironkhal, Rikhnikhal and Kotdwar, police said. One of the injured died on the way to the hospital, they said. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and former Union minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank arrived for an on-the-spot assessment of the situation.