Devotees visit shrines as Char Dham yatra begins amid Covid restrictions
DEHRADUN: The Char Dham pilgrimage, which was allowed by the Uttarakhand high court with conditions, began on Saturday with devotees, including 419 from other states, visiting the four shrines strictly adhering to Covid-19 norms.
According to the Char Dham Devasthanam Management Board that manages the four Char Dham shrines - Kedarnath in Rudraprayag district, Badrinath in Chamoli district, Yamunotri and Gangotri shrines in Uttarkashi district - a total of 335 devotees from other states visited Badrinath while 84 people from outside Uttarakhand visited the Kedarnath shrine along with local devotees.
Data shared by the Char Dham Devasthanam Management Board on Saturday revealed that only local devotees visited Gangotri and Yamunotri shrines with none from other states till Saturday 4pm.
The board also informed that till the above-mentioned period on Saturday, a total of 19,491 e-passes were issued to devotees wiling to visit the Char Dham shrines. Of the total e-passes, maximum 10,010 were issued for Kedarnath shrine followed by 4,830 for Badrinath, 2,375 for Gangotri and 2,276 for Yamunotri.
The Uttarakhand high court on Thursday lifted its June 28 stay on the Char Dham yatra and directed the state government to conduct the annual pilgrimage with strict adherence to Covid-19 guidelines.
With the start of the Char Dham yatra, traders dependent on the annual pilgrimage expressed hope on earning “some livelihood with the year affected by Covid-19.” One of the traders in Gangotri, Dwarikaprasad Kandwal, who sells puja items en-route the shrine, said, “Now as the yatra has started, we have some hope that we will manage to earn some livelihood in the year which was hugely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.” “This will surely impact the people living in the three districts hosting the Chat Dham shrines as they are very much dependent on the yatra to earn income. We wholeheartedly welcome this step [HC decision] which was being demanded by us for months,” Semwal added
On Friday evening, the state government had issued the SOP for the yatra.
The pilgrims from Kerala, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, even if they have received both the doses, are required to carry negative RTPCR/TrueNat/ CBNAAT/RAT COVID report (72 hours before) with them for seeking e-pass for the pilgrimage to the four revered shrines.
The daily limit of pilgrims has been set 1,000 for Badrinath, 800 for Kedarnath, 600 for Gangotri and 400 for Yamunotri shrines.