Donning white-coloured traditional attire, PM Modi offers prayers at Kedarnath temple

PM Modi was seen wearing a handmade dress made by the women of Chamba, Himachal Pradesh. The dress is popularly called Chola Dora. This dress was gifted to him during his recent visit to the state. The prime minister will also review the progress of development works along Mandakini Asthapath and Saraswati Asthapath.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered prayers at the famous Kedarnath temple in Uttarakhand’s Rudraprayag district on Friday. The prime minister conducted a "puja" at the temple while dressed in a white traditional hill people outfit with a "swastika" emblem stitched on it. Later in the day, he would go go to the Badrinath temple.

Modi will check several existing development projects and lay the cornerstones for some new ones during his two-day trip of the state.

The prime minister was welcomed by Governor Lieutenant General Gurmit Singh, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, and Union minister Ajay Bhatt upon his arrival at the Jolly Grant airport in Dehradun.

The prime minister will lay the cornerstone for the 9.7-km Gaurikund-Kedarnath ropeway project after conducting the "puja" at the Kedarnath shrine. Modi has a two-and-a-half-hour programme in Kedarnath, and he will also stop at Adi Guru Shankaracharya's Samadhi Sthal.

He will evaluate the advancement of the riverside development projects at Badrinath Dham. Modi will speak to a crowd at Mana village and lay the cornerstones for road and ropeway projects in the late afternoon. After then, he will assess how the initiative to spruce up the Arrival Plaza and the nearby lakes is coming along.

He will also go to Adi Guru Shankaracharya's Samadhi Sthal during his 2.5-hour programme. The development work along Mandakini Asthapath and Saraswati Asthapath will also be reviewed by the prime minister. He will next arrive at Badrinath Dham and, after paying a visit to the temple and making prayers, will assess the development projects being carried out along the riverbank.

The two well-known hill temples have increased security in preparation for the prime minister's arrival. Quintals of flowers have been used to embellish both temples.

(With PTI inputs)