Senior officials inspected the arrangements at Badrinath in view of the President of India, Pranab Mukherjee’s planned visit to this shrine early next month. The Garhwal commissioner Vinod Sharma, deputy inspector general (Garhwal) Pushpak Jyoti along with the Chamoli district magistrate Vinod Kumar Suman among others visited the Badrinath temple township on Wednesday to inspect the arrangements for the president’s visit. The officials directed their subordinates to ensure proper arrangements here during the pilgrimage period.
The Garhwal commissioner said that the president’s proposed visit to Badrinath is slated for May 6 while, earlier the prime minister Narendra Modi’s proposed visit to Kedarnath is slated for May 3. It should be mentioned here that the portals of Kedarnath and Badrinath will be reopened to the public on May 3 and May 6 respectively.
Directing officials to keep all systems in order for the pilgrimage season, the commissioner also directed officials to work with extra vigilance in view of the tour programme to prevent any shortcoming during the visit. All necessary arrangements should also be facilitated to ensure that devotees visiting Badrinath do not face any inconvenience in having darshan of the lord during the president’s visit. Inspecting the VIP guest house of the Badrinath Kedarnath Temple Committee (BKTC), he directed the committee officials to make high standard arrangements at the guest house. Sharma also directed the sub divisional magistrate to monitor this task.
Expressing displeasure at the garbage spread in front on Brahmakapal, the Garhwal commissioner pulled up officials of the Nagar Panchayat and stressed that the area should be cleaned before reopening of the portals of Badrinath shrine. In the temple compound, the commissioner also reviewed various departmental tasks related to the pilgrimage. Reviewing the status of road, electricity supply, drinking water supply, health, food grains, sanitation and other facilities, Sharma directed that all the services should be kept in good working order during the Yatra period. He also directed that in case of the pilgrimage road being blocked, officials should ensure necessary action within 15 minutes of the blockage taking place. Reviewing the power supply situation, he directed officials of Uttarakhand Renewable Energy Development Agency (UREDA) to make alternate arrangements for instances of regular power supply being disrupted in the temple township.
Officials of the Border Roads Organisation were directed to repair the Badrinath army helipad road while officials of the Public Works Department were told to get the main bridge leading to the temple cleaned and painted. The food safety officer was also directed to conduct inspections from time to time to ensure standard quality of dood items made available for the visiting pilgrims. The superintendent of police Tripti Bhatt, SDM Yogendra Singh and other officials concerned were also present on the occasion.