U’khand govt ignoring Char Dham yatra: Cong
HALDWANI: Leader of Opposition Yashpal Arya has accused the BJP government in Uttarakhand of mismanaging Char Dham Yatra, saying chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and his officials were focussing on the Champawat bypoll and not on the smooth conduct of the pilgrimage.
“The condition of the yatra is so bad that the Centre had called for a report,” Arya said on Wednesday. While dozens of pilgrims died in the yatra, a BJP leader ridiculed their death by describing them as “the attainment of salvation by the devotees,” the Congress leader said.
“Char Dham yatra contributes hundreds of crores of rupees to the state’s economy. If the government does not rectify this situation, then the image of the state will be maligned and ultimately the economy of the state will also be affected,” he said.
“On May 3, Char Dham yatra started with half-baked arrangements. Two weeks have not passed and 39 passengers have died. This figure is many times more than that of other high-altitude religious journeys, including pilgrimage to Vaishno Devi. Poor arrangements of the state government have ruined the Char Dham yatra and hit the faith of the devotees. Hundreds of pilgrims have been forced to return without darshan, while
thousands are forced to spend the night under the open sky in the rain,” Arya said.
He said, “Due to traffic jams on yatra routes, it is taking six hours to cover a distance of 10 km on Rishikesh-Badrinath road and 12 km from Phata-Rampur to Sonprayag. Yatra was at its peak when the tourism minister was in Dubai.”
Sumit Hridayesh, MLA who represents Haldwani, said, “State government had earlier anticipated that a record number of devotees would come for Char Dham yatra. Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam had received ₹7 crore for the booking of guest houses. Accordingly they should have made the arrangements on time.”
He said, “Focus of the government and officials is on Champawat by-election. Char Dham yatra is going on by the grace of God. It is the blessings of Baba Kedar that all travellers reach their homes safely after having darshan. State government must give compensation to the passengers who died in the yatra”.
BJP rubbished the allegations levelled by the Congress. “If the records of the last 10 years are seen, there has never been such a pilgrim rush for Char Dham yatra. Despite this, the state government has made all possible arrangements for smooth conduct of the yatra,” said Prakash Rawat, BJP state spokesperson.
“Medical booths have been set up at different places on the yatra route and doctors have been deployed there. Some passengers are travelling at high altitudes without health checkups, so the health of many pilgrims is deteriorating due to which death is increasing,” he said. “All the allegations of the Congress are baseless. Government or our leaders are not ignoring the yatra and focussing on Champawat seat. Everyone knows that CM Dhami will win it with a historic margin.”
Char Dham Yatra commenced on May 3 after a gap of almost two years of Coronavirus pandemic. Unlike the last year, the government has not mandated carrying a negative Covid-19 test report or a vaccination certificate. The yatra began with the opening of Gangotri and Yamunotri portals for devotees on May 3, on Akshay Tritiya in the presence of CM Dhami, while Kedarnath re-opened on May 6, and the doors of Badrinath opened on May 8.