Digital darshan of Chardham shrines soon
DEHRADUN: Devotees from across the world, especially those who are unable to come to Uttarakhand for the Chardham yatra, will be able to do ‘digital darshan’ of the deities of the holy shrines, the state government said on Wednesday.
This year, the Chardham yatra will commence from April 26 with the opening of portals for Gangotri and Yamunotri.
While announcing the new initiative on Wednesday, chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said, “People from all over the world will be able to experience the spirituality of Uttarakhand with online darshan of Chardham shrines and other major temples. This will be helpful for devotees who are unable to come to the state due to being unwell or for other reasons.”
90% WORK COMPLETED
A private telecom company will help the state government in creating digital platform for ‘online darshan’. About 90% of the work has already been done for building this platform.
Last year, Uttarakhand welcomed the highest ever annual tourists to Chardham with the four shrines—Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri, Yamunotri— witnessing footfall of over 32.40 lakh during the six months of the yatra season.
In 2019, the state witnessed a 23.5% rise in the number of pilgrims visiting the state during the yatra months as compared to 2018, with footfall of over 26.22 lakh. Over 10 lakh pilgrims visited Kedarnath, Badrinath welcomed over 12.44 lakh pilgrims. Over 4.65 lakh visited Yamunotri and over 5.30 lakh pilgrims went to Gangotri this year. Sikh shrine of Hemkund Sahib welcomed over 2.40 lakh pilgrims in 2019.
STATE GOVT CREDITS PM MODI FOR RECORD FOOTFALL IN 2019
The state government gave credit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s frequent visits to Uttarakhand and the Chardham shrines for the record tourist influx.
After the portals of the four shrines were closed in November last year, chief minister Rawat had tweeted, “This year, more than 34,81,000 devotees have visited Chardham and Hemkund Sahib. Prime Minister Modi, after visiting Kedarnath and Badrinath shrines, gave the message of clean and safe Chardham yatra, which brought a large number of pilgrims here.”
PM Modi visited Rudra meditation cave in Kedarnath in May last year. He spent a day meditating at the cave, nearly a kilometre from the Kedarnath shrine. Following Modi’s visit, the cave received a significant number of bookings from across the country for meditation.
He also visited the Badrinath shrine in May last year.
The state government expects more number of pilgrims to come to the state this year during the Chardham yatra as the construction work for Chardham all weather road highway will almost be done by the time the yatra season ends in November.
› People from across the world will be able to experience the spirituality of U’khand with online darshan. It will be helpful for especially devotees who are unable to come to the state for health or other reasons. TRIVENDRA SINGH RAWAT , Uttarakhand chief minister