Additionally, rates in the aviation sector are also expected to increase due to huge claim outgo in the Air India crash.
After chairing an emergency meeting with senior officials to discuss the situation, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said that heli services on the Char Dham route will remain suspended for two days, as the weather is bad and the safety of the passengers is the government's top priority.
Devotees brave bad weather and severe cold for darshan at Kedarnath Dham, Rudraprayag.
Glimpses from India and around the world that will make you smile and cry.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered prayers at the famous Kedarnath temple in Uttarakhand's Rudraprayag district on Friday.
Saina, who was accompanied by her father Harvir Singh, first offered prayers at Kedarnath on Sunday morning before she left for Badrinath.
Devotees during their pilgrimage to the Kedarnath temple against the backdrop of the Himalayan mountain range.
Soon after the crash on Sunday, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami held an emergency meeting and asked senior officials to prepare a strict SOP (standard operating procedure) for heli services in the state, making a thorough check of the technical condition of the choppers mandatory.
In a video that surfaced online, senior priest Santosh Trivedi alleged that the temple's sanctum sanctorum has been covered with brass plates in the name of gold plating, claiming it is a 'Rs 125 crore scam'.
It's the season of star kids, and it continues with Chunky Pandey's nephew Ahaan Pandey getting ready for his Bollywood debut with this Friday's release, Saiyaara.
In view of the safety of the passengers, the district administration stopped the passengers at Sonprayag and Gaurikund due to continuous bad weather.
Glimpses from India and around the world that will make you smile and cry.
A helicopter carrying pilgrims from Guptkashi to Kedarnath crashed on Tuesday amid poor visibility and seven people on board are feared dead.
After arriving in Kedarnath, Modi watched a brief documentary detailing the reconstruction work carried out at the Himalayan temple after the devastating deluge of 2013 and then entered the sanctum sanctorum of the shrine.
'The problem is that all this reconstruction work is being monitored by the prime minister himself with inputs being provided directly by the PMO so nobody in the state government dare contradict them even if their suggestions are totally contrary to what the ecology of this region requires.'
'I never want to play a character that sends out the wrong message.'
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari voiced concerns about increasing poverty and wealth concentration, advocating for wealth decentralization and job creation in rural areas. He also highlighted the need for balanced sectoral contributions to GDP and discussed infrastructure development initiatives.
Aviation watchdog Directorate General of Civil Aviation has revised its operational guidelines for operators during adverse weather conditions, emphasising that safety should take precedence over 'schedule adherence' and encouraged pilots to divert flights in unpredictable conditions.
The gold plating of the sanctum sanctorum was done under the supervision of the experts of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), he said.
'The lakes up there were already at the brink due to accumulated rainwater, and then snowmelt occurred.' 'When one lake breached, it triggered a cascading effect -- other lakes breached subsequently.'
'The government only wakes up after devastation.' 'The government does not understand the gravity of the situation nor they do not want to understand the gravity of the situation.'
The government will review the weather conditions in the coming days and accordingly take a decision in the interest of the pilgrims, he said.
Just as political observers braced for another tiresome tantrum, on Tuesday, November 2, Harish Rawat -- the Congress secretary in charge of Punjab and a native of Uttarakhand -- whisked Channi and Sidhu to his home state and a visit to the Kedarnath shrine where spirituality and no doubt the freezing weather seems to have brought about yet another ceasefire in the Punjab Congress for now.
Here are 10 star kid debuts we loved from the word go and where to watch them on OTT.
Shivanand Kanavi remembers his father, the eminent Kannada poet Nadoja Chennaveera Kanavi.
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is expected to release its preliminary report this week on the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad, which resulted in the deaths of at least 260 people. The investigation is ongoing, with the help of foreign experts, and the black box and voice recorder data are being analyzed.
Snowfall and rain hit the Char Dham Yatra on Tuesday with thousands of pilgrims halted en route to Kedarnath and Yamunotri temples in the Garhwal Himalayas as a precautionary measure.
Covid restrictions notwithstanding, the city's creative spirit reflects in the pandal created by the Bandra West Sarvajanik Ganesh Mandal.
Since the yatra began, as many as 28 tourists en route to Kedarnath have died due to various reasons.
The process of opening the doors of Kedar Dham began at 3 am. Shiva Shankar Linga, the chief priest of the shrine, carried out the tradition of opening the doors. The first 'pooja' was performed in the name of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said a statement.
Addressing a gathering of priests and devotees, he said the redevelopment of centres of faith in India shows the country's growing pride in its ancient saints and philosophers like Adi Guru Shankaracharya and Swami Vivekananda.
Noted Scottish-born travel writer Bill Aitken, known for his writings on Indian mountains, rivers, and railways, died in Dehradun at the age of 90. Aitken, who arrived in India in the late 1950s, traveled extensively throughout the country, especially in and around the Himalayan ashrams of Kausani and Mirtola. He lived between Delhi and Mussoorie since the 1970s. In over two dozen travel books, Aitken explored India's religious and natural landscapes, wrote intimately about its people and their beliefs, and had a keen interest in Indian railways. Some of his noted works include "Seven Sacred Rivers," "Divining the Deccan - A Motorbike to the Heart of India," "Footloose in the Himalaya," and "Exploring Indian Railways."
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Wednesday visited Kedarnath to review the preparations in view of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the Himalayan temple on November 5.
Tatas, Ambanis, Adanis, Birlas contributed an average of Rs 800 crore to Rs 1,000 crore per family group.
Bypolls will be held on Wednesday in 15 assembly seats spread across Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Kerala and Uttarakhand. The bypolls, however, will not have any direct impact on the respective legislative assemblies. The results will be declared on November 23. In Uttar Pradesh, polling will be held in Katehari, Karhal, Meerapur, Ghaziabad, Majhawan, Sisamau, Khair, Phulpur and Kundarki. Ninety candidates are in the fray in these seats with the maximum of 14 in Ghaziabad. This will be the first electoral test of the INDIA bloc as well as the NDA in the politically-crucial state after the Lok Sabha elections. In Punjab, bypolls will be held in four assembly seats - Gidderbaha, Dera Baba Nanak, Chabbewal (SC) and Barnala. The bypolls were necessitated after MLAs representing them were elected to the Lok Sabha. Polling will also be held for the Palakkad seat in Kerala and Kedarnath in Uttarakhand.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the Mukhwa temple in Uttarakhand, the winter abode of Goddess Ganga, and offered prayers. The visit is expected to boost winter pilgrimage and tourism in the state. Modi also flagged off a trek and bike rally and addressed a public meeting in Harshil. This comes a day after the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved two major ropeway projects to Kedarnath and Hemkund Sahib worth over Rs 6,000 crore.
The helicopter crash-landed "due to a technical fault".
"Took darshan and blessings at Kedarnath temple, this morning. Har Har Mahadev!" Fadnavis tweeted along with multiple photos of his trip.
Modi said he was at a loss of words to describe what he felt while he was sitting before the statue.
Former Uttarakhand chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat had to face the ire of teerth purohits in Kedarnath as he arrived at the Himalayan temple on Monday to offer prayers.
