Badrinath shrine opens for pilgrims
- The portals of the Badrinath shrine, dedicated to Lord Vishnu, opened amid chanting of mantras at 5.15 a.m. on April 26.
- Thousands of devotees thronged the snow-covered premises for worship. The turnout, according to Chief Minister Harish Rawat, who attended the ceremony, was “more than the administration had expected.”
- The shrine received fewer footfalls last year owing to the 2013 disaster that had destroyed much infrastructure, especially the roads leading to the shrine.
- “The State government is still working on making the Char Dham yatra more convenient for the pilgrims,” Mr. Rawat said.
- Even after the commencement of the yatra, the road repair work on some patches on the way to Badrinath is under way. Bulldozers have been placed at critical spots where landslips are a probability.
- “The road from Pandukeshwar to Badrinath is still under repair…However, I assure the pilgrims that the yatra to Badrinath will not be affected because of the condition of roads as work on various damaged patches is under way,” Mr. Rawat said.
- With the opening of the Badrinath shrine, the Char Dham Yatra, which involves pilgrimage to all the four Dhams of Gangotri, Yamunotri, Badrinath, and Kedarnath, has begun.
- The Kedarnath shrine opened for pilgrims on April 24, and Gangotri and Yamunotri shrines on April 21.
Devotees at the Badrinath temple in Chamoli, Uttarakhand
Ukraine marks 29 years since Chernobyl
- Ukrainians on April 26 marked 29 years since the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, laying wreaths and candles near the plant where work to lay a new seal over the reactor site has been delayed. The explosion of reactor number four on April 26, 1986, spewed poisonous radiation over large parts of Europe, particularly Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.
- At the site of the plant itself, around 100 km from Kiev, Ukraine’ President Poroshenko laid a wreath on April 26 at a monument to the victims.
Site of Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster, 26 April, 1986
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