Portals of Hemkunt Sahib open; 3,000 visit on Day 1
DEHRADUN: The portals of the revered Sikh shrine Hemkunt Sahib opened for devotees amid religious chants on Saturday in Chamoli district in Uttarakhand.
Around 3,000 devotees visited on first day after the opening of the shrine, according to officials.
“The portals of Gurdwara Sri Hemkunt Sahib opened today at 10 am in the morning amid chants of “Jo Bole So Nihal Sat Shri Akaal,” said an official press release by the state government
“The registration for the devotees to visit Hemkunt Sahib is mandatory. The Army has cleared the snow-clogged trek route to Hemkunt Sahib with a great deal of effort. However, there is still snow on the way to the shrine” the official statement mentioned.
The first batch of Sikh devotees (sangat) consisting of 500 devotees left from Gurudwara in Rishikesh to Hemkunt Sahib on Wednesday.
Governor Lt Gen (retd) Gur
mit Singh and chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami had flagged off the first batch of pilgrims from Rishikesh.
Over 50,000 pilgrims have registered for Hemkunt Sahib yatra and the pilgrims are being advised to bring warm clothes to avoid extreme cold weather conditions during the yatra season,
said Sewa Singh, the manager of Gurdwara committee at Govind Ghat in Rishikesh.
In view of the excessive snow on the route, the Chamoli administration in consultation with Yatra management trust had earlier decided to prohibit the sick and pilgrims above age 60 years along with children from embarking on the Hemkunt Sahib Yatra during the initial days until the snow melts and it is safe for pilgrims.
Last year 247,000 pilgrims visited Hemkunt shrine, the highest in the recorded history of the yatra, according to the trustees of the Gurudwara Sri Hemkunt Sahib Management Trust. Over 10,000 pilgrims visited the shrine in 2021, and around 8,500 in 2020. In 2019, 240,000 pilgrims had visited the shrine.
The pilgrims take a trek from Pulna, three kilometres away from Govind Ghat to Hemkund Sahib. After completing 6-kilometre steep climb, they stay overnight at Ghangria from where they again make their way for Hemkunt Sahib on foot.
This shrine, situated at a height of over 15,000 feet above sea level, has emerged as a popular centre of Sikh pilgrimage which is visited by hundreds of thousands of devotees, including from foreign countries, every summer.
Hemkunt is inaccessible because of snow from October to April. A 1,100-metre climb on a 6-km stone-paved path leads to the Hemkunt sahib shrine.
The Char Dham yatra began with the opening of portals of Yamunotri and Gangotri shrines on April 22 while the portals of Kedarnath shrine opened on April 25 and that of Badrinath opened on April 27.