Govt to not broadcast Char Dham rituals
The Uttarakhand government has decided not to broadcast rituals from the Char Dham shrines. The decision was made during CM Pushkar Singh Dhami’s meeting with officials of Char Dham Devasthanam Board on Friday. “Given the religious beliefs and faith of Shri Badrinath, Shri Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri temples, no live telecast of the rituals will be done,” a communique issued after the meeting read. Officials said that the government doesn’t want to interfere in religious affairs of the shrines. However, legal experts said this clashes with a court order that directed the state to live-telecast rituals.
Two infra projects delayed due to lack of clearances
Char Dham Pariyojana and Rishikesh-Karnprayag Rail Line — both dream projects of Prime Minister Narendra Modi — are yet to get necessary clearances and are getting delayed. Officials from the state government said the CM is yet to clear the projects. Work on Rishikesh-Karnprayag Rail Line is supposed to end in 2024-2025. According to sources, the railway project needs 79 clearances. The Rs 16,216 project involves laying a broad gauge rail line on a 125 km stretch that passes through Devprayag, Srinagar, Rudraprayag, Gauchar, Karnprayag, Dehradun, Tehri Garhwal, Pauri Garhwal, Rudraprayag and Chamoli. The deadline to complete the Char Dham all-weather road has been pushed to April 2023. It was supposed to be completed by July 2022.
No patients in majority of Covid care centres
About 65% of Covid Care Centers in Uttarakhand don’t have a single Covid patient in them. Out of a total of 176 Covid Care Centers, 114 are without any Covid patient. “Our arrangements are in place for the third wave. Instructions have been passed to the official of the department to upgrade and apprise till July 31,” Dhan Singh Rawat, the state health minister, said. Dehradun has 37 Covid Care Centers, Haridwar 24, Udham Singh Nagar 29, Nainital 14, Pauri 9, Uttarkashi 6, Champawat 3, Rudraprayag 2, Bageshwar 2 and 1 each in Almora, Pithoragarh, Tehri and Chamoli.
Fuel prices to be slashed in the state soon
Uttarakhand government is planning to cut the price of petrol and diesel by Rs 2 and Rs 1 respectively. State government officials told this newspaper that the fuel prices will be slashed by reducing the VAT and that an announcementis imminent. At present, the government imposes Rs 19 as VAT for a litre of petrol and Rs 10 for diesel. Petrol costs Rs 97.81 per litre in Dehradun while diesel costs Rs 90.54. In many other towns of Uttarakhand, the price of petrol is more than that of the capital. In Joshimath of Chamoli district, for instance, petrol costs Rs 100.38, while in Srinagar ‘Xtra Power’ petrol costs Rs 102.13.