Kedarnath, Gangotri, Yamunotri temples to open on Friday

The Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri temples of Uttarakhand will be opened for devotees on Friday after remaining closed during the winter season.

The famous temples situated in the Garhwal Himalayas are closed with the onset of winter every year as they remain snowbound during the period and are reopened with the start of summer.

The Kedarnath and Yamunotri temples will be opened at 7 am and the Gangotri temple will be opened at 12.20 pm, the temple committee officials said.

Badrinath, which is also a part of Uttarakhand's 'chardham yatra' will be opened at 6 am on May 12.

Kedarnath is being decorated with 20 quintals of flower, Badrinath-Kedarnath Temple Committee (BKTC) media incharge Harish Gaur said.

The five-faced idol of Baba Kedar, which is carried from its winter abode at Ukhimath's Omkareshwar temple to Kedarnath, has left Gaurikund - the last stop on its way back to Kedarnath where it will be reinstalled inside the temple amid elaborate rituals, he said.

The idol will be worshipped before its portals are thrown open for devotees, Gaur added.

The idol is carried by barefoot BKTC volunteers on their shoulders from Ukhimath to Kedarnath every year.

Devotees from the country as well as from abroad are also part of the procession, Gaur said.

Meanwhile, 135 vehicles carrying 4,050 chardham pilgrims were flagged off from Rishikesh on Thursday for the Himalayan temples.

Speaking at the flag-off, Cabinet Minister Premchand Aggarwal said a record number of pilgrims will visit chardham this year.

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