NEW DELHI, June 19:

In a major boost to religioustourism, the government ishopeful of completing by nextApril the construction of high-ways through Uttarakhand forKailash- Mansarovar to make iteasy for people to visit theabode of Lord Shiva.

The highways will make thearduous journey to one of themost revered treks at high altitudeeasily accessible from next yearonwards as tough Himalayanrocks are being cut to make high-ways for reaching Kailash-Mansarovar — a famous Hindupilgrimage site in Tibet, UnionRoad and Transport MinisterNitin Gadkari said today.

Kailash-Mansarovar in thehigh altitudes could be reachedonly through the arduousLipulekh Pass route and NathuLa Route, opened by China in2015 after Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s appeal to theChinese President Xi Jinping.

“Kailash-Mansarovar is theidentity of our rich ancient cultureand heritage. We want to enhancetourism including religious tourism.We are cutting rocks throughHimalayas to make a new alignmentof highways through Uttarakhandfor going to Mansarovar. It is mysincere effort that the highway is

built by April next year,” RoadTransport and Highways MinisterNitin Gadkari said.

He said it is a difficult task tobuild highways in rugged terrain ofHimalayas cutting through its rocks

but the work is in full swing.“We cannot go there ...It has a

history. Now are building a newroad from Pithoragarh(Uttarakhand) for reachingMansarovar. Himalayan align-

ment is very difficult. To cut therocks, we have brought machinesfrom Australia,” the Minister said.

Kailash-Mansarovar isbelieved to be the seat of HinduGod Lord Shiva and Yatra is

organised by Ministry of ExternalAffairs (MEA) annually with pil-grims requiring to travel to highaltitudes through inhospitable andrugged terrains, with a part of thejourney overseen by Chinese

authorities.“It is my vision that next

April this road will be clear. Wecan reach Mansarovar directlythrough Uttarakhand,” headded.(PTI)

MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2016 (PAGE 16) DAILY EXCELSIOR, JAMMU

Govt aims to complete U’khand highways for Mansarovar by April

‘Selfies may damage your skin, cause wrinkles’

LONDON, June 19:

Selfie-addicts, take note!Constantly exposing your faceto the light and radiation fromsmartphones may damage yourskin, speeding up ageing andpromoting wrinkles, dermatolo-gists have warned.

Doctors can tell which handa person holds their phone injust by looking at which side ofthe face is most damaged, theysaid.

“Those who take a lot ofselfies and bloggers shouldworry. Even the blue light weget from our screens can dam-age our skin,” said SimonZoakei, Medical Director of theLinia Skin Clinic in the UK.Experts feel that electromagnet-ic radiation from mobile phonesages skin by damaging theDNA. It can cause breaks in theDNA strand which can preventskin repairing itself and placeoxidative stress on cells, ulti-mately promoting wrinkles, ‘theTelegraph’ reported.

“You start to see dull dirtylooking texture that you cannotidentify on one side of theface,” said Zein Obagi, whofounded the Obagi Skin healthInstitute in the US.(PTI)