By Shishir Prashant 
PrashantNews
Pilgrims on Sunday made serpentine long queues to offer prayers at Badrinath shrine in Uttarakhand after its portals were reopened in the morning.
Amid the chants of “Jai Badri Vishal”, the priests opened the doors of the Badrinath temple at 6 AM which remained closed for nearly six months during the winter period. The priests later performed puja reciting Vedic mantra and performing various Hindu rituals as military bands played religious tunes and women danced outside the temple.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami was among the first persons to perform puja at the temple. He was accompanied by state BJP President Mahendra Bhatt and Tehri BJP MLA Kishore Upadhyaya.
The people, who were waiting for hours in queues, loudly expressed cheers and raised religious slogans when the doors of the temple were being reopened.
Riding on flowers-decked palanquins, the idols of Gods arrived earlier in Badrinath shrine area from Joshimath in Chamoli district where the puja is performed during the winter period after the closure of the temple.
The pilgrimage to Chardham, comprising Badrinath, Kedarnath, Yamunotri and Gangotri shrines, began on Wednesday on the auspicious occasion of Akshay Tritiya after the portals of two shrines Gangotri and Yamunotri were reopened. And on Friday, the portals of Kedarnath were also reopened.
Flanked by snow-capped Neelkanth and other mountains, Badrinath shrine is located at a height of 10170 feet in the Garhwal Himalayas in Chamoli district.