Complete reconstruction of Shankaracharya's grave by Dec: Official

Shankaracharya's grave (samadhi) was destroyed in the 2013 deluge at Kedarnath. Chief Secretary Om Prakash directed Jindal Social Work to finish the reconstruction of the eighth century philosopher's 'samadhi' and a 48x3.6 metre passage from Divya Shila up to the grave by December 31, an official release here said.

The Uttarakhand government on Saturday asked the firm executing Kedarpuri reconstruction project to rebuild Adi Guru Shankaracharya's grave latest by the end of December this year. Shankaracharya's grave (samadhi) was destroyed in the 2013 deluge at Kedarnath.

Chief Secretary Om Prakash directed Jindal Social Work to finish the reconstruction of the eighth century philosopher's 'samadhi' and a 48x3.6 metre passage from Divya Shila up to the grave by December 31, an official release here said. The company was also asked to build the remaining two out of the total five view points on the banks of the Saraswati river by the end of this month and finish the beautification of banks by October, it said. The chief secretary, who conducted an on-the-spot review of the ongoing reconstruction projects at Kedarnath along with tourism secretary Dilip Jawalkar, asked the implementing agencies to speed up the work without compromising on quality.

He also asked the PWD and District Disaster Management Authority officials to expeditiously finish the works including the expansion of the MI 26 helipad near the temple from 50x40 to 50x100 and the construction of a bridge between Garudchatti and Kedarpuri. Prakash also asked the Jindal group to construct buildings for teerth-purohits by October 15 and hand them over to the District Administration.