Dehradun: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat today said second phase of restoration works at Kedarnath, which had suffered huge destruction due to the last year's floods, has begun.
Chairing a meeting with National Disaster Management Authority officials here, Rawat said timely start of the annual pilgrimage to the Himalayan shrine had restored the confidence of visitors on whom tourism, the mainstay of the state's economy, depends.
He said Nehru Institute of Mountaineering and the Irrigation Department have begun work on rechannelising the Mandakini and Sarswati rivers to their original course as a change in their course is said to have been one of the factors which led to the mid-June deluge last year.
Work has also been started on construction of an outer protection wall at the Himalayan shrine from Chairabari side and an inner protection wall from its backyard which will guard the ancient temple against calamities in future, he said.
