Addressing the concluding session of the two-day meeting of the Vishva Hindu Parishad's (VHP) Kendriya Margadarshak Mandal in Haridwar, Dhami said, "Uttarakhand shares its borders with two countries (China and Nepal). A particular community had illegally encroached land and raised structures in the border areas of the state which are being removed as part of a drive."
Agniveers will be granted reservation in government jobs in Uttarakhand upon their return after serving in the armed forces, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami announced on Friday, as the nation observed the 25th anniversary of the Kargil Vijay Diwas.
Rescue workers pulled out all 41 workers trapped in Uttarakhand's Silkyara tunnel in a multi-agency rescue operation that hovered between hope and despair for 16 days.
The Uttarakhand assembly poll result has presented the Bharatiya Janata Party with a dilemma of sorts as it weighs various options after outgoing chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami who was tipped to continue in the post lost the election even as the party stormed back to power.
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.
The rat-hole miners said the chief minister's gesture was 'not commensurate' with the role they had played.
'The worst part is that after the attack on December 9, the Dehradun police refused to register an FIR for the murder.'
Dhami said several acres of land were freed from encroachment during the demolition drive in the 'Malik Ka Bagicha' area of Banbhoolpura.
Authorities continue evacuating stranded pilgrims from areas around Dharali village in Uttarkashi, focusing on air rescue and relief operations due to damaged roads. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami is overseeing the efforts, with central government support.
BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as the new Chief Minister of Maharashtra in a grand ceremony at Azad Maidan in Mumbai.
Gabbar Singh Negi's house in the Lalpani area of the town suddenly came to life on Tuesday night as the news of the safe evacuation of 41 workers trapped at Sikyara tunnel reached his kin who had been glued to the TV set waiting the whole day for the good news.
An Uttar Pradesh government spokesperson said a formal order for all eateries along the Kanwar Yatra route in the state was likely to be issued soon.
Landslides blocked arterial roads leading up to Dharali where dozens of people were trapped and many homes and cars swept away by the raging waters on Tuesday. Eleven Army personnel from the nearby camp in Harsil were among those missing.
The draft will be examined, studied and discussed before it is tabled in the assembly on February 6, he said.
The chief minister will visit Joshimath on Saturday, meet the affected people and hold a meeting with officials.
The three FIRs were registered on Friday, and police stressed that there was no fresh violence and that the situation was under control.
Two alleged overground workers (OGWs) were arrested for their involvement in a terror attack on an army patrol party in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district, the police said.
An NDRF personnel went through the passage, pushing a wheeled stretcher tied to a rope at the end of the tunnel and was pulled back up after completing the stretch.
The voting will begin at 7 am and end at 5 pm after the electioneering came to an end on Saturday, 48 hours before the electorate begin casting their votes.
Home Minister Amit Shah has asserted India's readiness to host the 2036 Olympics at the closing ceremony of the 38th National Games in Haldwani.
For them it was a late Diwali, as the tunnel collapse happened on November 12, the day of the the festival.
The Indian Air Force's Chinook and MI17 helicopters on Friday joined the rescue operations in Uttarakhand to evacuate over 500 pilgrims stranded on the rain-ravaged trek route to Kedarnath, with 10 of them being airlifted in the first round.
The decision was taken in a high-level review meeting chaired by principal secretary to prime minister PK Mishra.
Rescue operations continue in Uttarkashi after flash floods, with dozens still missing. The Army and other agencies are working to rescue stranded people and restore connectivity.
The worker said there was a natural source of water in the tunnel but they had no clothes to change.
Once implemented, Uttarakhand will be the second state after Goa in the country to implement it .
The minister for road transport and highways, who was accompanied by Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, said the rescue operation is challenging as the soil strata in the Himalayan region is not uniform.
The swearing-in ceremony may take place on Tuesday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president J P Nadda and chief ministers of several BJP-ruled states likely to attend the event, he said.
Rajiv Gandhi, his son Rahul Gandhi, Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia Karan Singh, Naveen Patnaik besides celebrated authors like Amitav Ghosh and Vikram Seth studied at The Doon School.
Rudraprayag District Disaster Management Officer Nandan Singh Rajwar told PTI that the accident took place above the forests of Gaurikund amid poor visibility due to bad weather.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his cabinet colleagues Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Rajnath Singh, chief ministers of Nationalist Democratic Alliance-ruled states and prominent personalities from industry and Bollywood on Thursday attended the grand swearing-in of Devendra Fadnavis as Maharashtra Chief Minister in Mumbai.
Several Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states in the country, including Gujarat and Assam, have expressed their keenness to follow the Uttarakhand UCC as a model.
The chief minister briefed the prime minister about the rescue operations in detail and said all the trapped workers are safe with oxygen, nutritious food and water being constantly supplied to them.
The government on Tuesday decided to set up a committee of secretaries to fast-track implementation of infrastructure projects along the border with China.
The team consisted of trainee mountaineers from the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering and their trainers.
The 41 workers, who were rescued from Uttarakhand's Silkyara tunnel in a multi-agency rescue operation, kept their spirits up while trapped inside by taking morning walks and practising yoga, a rescued worker told Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Just weeks before the assembly polls, expelled Bharatiya Janata Party's Uttarakhand minister Harak Singh Rawat rejoined his old party, the Congress, on Friday in the presence of former chief minister Harish Rawat.
Party sources said, "After the distribution of tickets, the BJP has decided to form teams under the leadership of all its seven MPs to reduce the possible rebellion and damage control."
Her election to the post was a foregone conclusion as the main opposition Congress chose to stay out of contest.
The accident occurred on a turning near the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) camp when the driver lost control of the vehicle, plunging the bus into a 70-metre-deep gorge, Mussoorie police station SHO D S Kohli said.
