Prime Minister Narendra Modi is slated to visit the Kedarnath shrine on May 18. During his proposed visit to this shrine in the Rudraprayag district, he is slated to offer prayers to the lord Kedarnath. Top officials of the state are reported to have inspected the arrangements in Kedarnath ahead of the proposed visit of the prime minister.

According to official sources, the State administration has received details of the prime minister’s proposed Kedarnath visit. A team of the Special Protection Group (SPG) has also arrived in the district. The inspector general of the SPG is also slated to arrive in Kedarnath to inspect the arrangements on May 15. According to the Rudraprayag district administration, preparations have been started for the proposed visit of the Prime Minister to the shrine.

Modi’s proposed visit to this Himalayan shrine to lord Shiva is set to take place a few days before counting of votes polled in the Lok Sabha election.  He is said to have a special connection with the Kedarnath shrine, also having spent some time in the region before entering active politics. During the past two years, he has visited Kedarnath on three occasions- twice in 2017 and once in 2018. The Kedarnath reconstruction project started after the 2013 disaster wreaked destruction around the shrine and in the valley, is stated to be one of the dream projects of the Prime Minister.

Apart from reviewing the reconstruction during his last visit to the shrine, he has also reviewed the reconstruction project work on various occasions through video conferencing and drone imagery.It is pertinent to mention here that one of the Char Dham shrines in Uttarakhand- the Kedarnath shrine was recently reopened to the public on May 9 after remaining closed for six months of winter.