The Chief of the Army Staff General Dalbir Singh Suhag offered his prayers to lord Badrinath at the ancient shrine here in Chamoli district on Wednesday. According to local sources, the Army chief arrived in Badrinath by helicopter on Wednesday morning at about 11:30 AM. After paying obeisance to lord Badrinath in the shrine, the army chief flew by helicopter to Joshimath. In Joshimath, later during the day, General Singh is reported to have held a meet with senior officers of the army after which the army chief departed by air for the national capital. It is pertinent to mention here that apart from its religious importance, Uttarakhand is also of considerable strategic importance considering the international border it shares with Nepal in addition to the Indo-Tibet border region which had seen ‘incursion’ by Chinese troops earlier this year at Badahoti in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand. Achieving some development in the infrastructural sphere in this border region, the Border Roads Organisation had recently cleared a 16-kiliometre stretch of the 41-kilometre long Malari-Rimikhim motorable road. The entire length of this motorable road in the border region was used for the first time starting on Monday a couple of days ago.