Lalmani Verma

According to Uttarakhand government officials, the tunnel project — to be known as MUssoorie bypass — will help reduce traffic in the main town area.

The data, which was shared on Tuesday, says 2,382 policemen tested positive while they were on duty between April and May. Among them, 2,204 have already recovered while five deaths were reported.

Under fire for this gathering — the Uttarakhand High Court last week called holding Kumbh a “mistake” — officals in the state government and the district administration, after a detailed review, have assessed that the attendance figure was almost 70% down, to an estimated 15 lakh, for these three days.

Bahuguna was admitted to the hospital on May 8, and was on life support. A statement from AIIMS-Rishikesh said he had comorbidities, including diabetes and hypertension, and had contracted Covid pneumonia.

Of the total 2.49 lakh cases since last year, over 25 per cent were recorded between May 2 and 10, while 32 per cent of the total were recorded in April.

Days after changing Chief Minister and the party state president, ruling BJP in Uttarakhand has recorded a win in Salt assembly constituency by-poll and retained the seat by defeating Congress by a margin of 4697 votes, results of which were declared on Sunday.

The portals of Yamunotri are scheduled to open on May 14, followed by Gangotri on May 15, Kedarnath on May 17 and Badrinath on May 18.

Police personnel also participated in a shahi snan and officials said it was “symbolic”. Before the shahi snan Tuesday, Gunjyal visited every akhara camp to ensure attendance was restricted.

The Uttarakhand Police said eight people were unaccounted for, with bad weather affecting rescue operations.

In another tweet, CM Rawat said Union Home Minister Amit Shah has taken cognizance of the information on the glacier burst and assured help from the Centre and alerted the ITBP.

A day after the death of the head of the Maha Nirvani Akhada from Madhya Pradesh, who had arrived for the Kumbh and tested positive for the coronavirus, several akhadas at the Mela on Friday rushed to take precautionary steps.

On Thursday, 14,915 samples were collected and at least 332 people were found Covid positive in the Kumbh Mela area.

Kumbh Mela Deputy SP Birendra Prasad Dabral said RSS volunteers helped out during Kumbh in the past as well but this is the first time they have been issued identity cards of SPOs. “They are doing well in traffic and crowd management,” said Dabral.

District officials said rapid antigen tests were being done at railway stations on those arriving without RTPCR report. Those testing positive are sent to the Covid facility.

On April 12 when over 30 lakh devotees are estimated to have turned up for the second shahi snan, 387 cases were reported from different locations including Haridwar, parts of Dehradun, Pauri and Tehri.

By Monday evening, over 28 lakh devotees turned up for the second shahi snan (royal bath) in the Ganga.

Officials said over 350 CCTV cameras have been installed at different locations in the mela area, with about 100 of these equipped with sensors that generate an alert when the camera captures the image of a person without a mask.

What was the previous arrangement? Who are protesting and why? What does the government say?

BJP MLAs of Uttarakhand had complained to the party’s central leadership that Trivendra had taken the decision to establish the Gairsain commissionerate without consulting them, and that it could be damaging for the BJP in the Assembly elections of 2022.

"We are focused on the jhanki (Ayodhya) at present. We have received donations for it (the Ram temple) from across the country." says VHP president Alok Kumar

Rawat was speaking at the VHP kendriya margdarshak mandal in Haridwar. Top VHP leaders and saints attended the meeting and discussed the issue of “love jihad” at length.

Former chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, while presenting this year’s Budget, had announced Gairsain town as a new administrative division of the state.

Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat has sought help from Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the Centre provided two MI-17 helicopters in fire fighting operation—one each deployed in Kumaon and Garhwal regions.

Uttarakhand has around 38,000 square km of forests, which is almost 71 per cent of its geographical area. Since its formation as a separate state in the year 2000, forest fires have affected over 48,000 hectares.