Registrations for Char Dham yatra cross 3.3 mn in 2 months

MUSSOORIE: The number of registrations for the Char Dham yatra has crossed 3.3 million and of them, over 2.3 million pilgrims have already visited the Himalayan shrines since the pilgrimage started on May 3, tourism department officials said.

Over 3.2 million pilgrims had visited the Char Dhan shrines during the six-month yatra period in 2019 before the outbreak of the Covid pandemic led to curbs on the pilgrimage for two years.

“Over 330,1843 pilgrims have registered to visit the Char Dham shrines and Hemkund Sahib till Tuesday and we are expecting the number of registrations will reach around 38 to 40 lakh till the end of this month,” said SS Samant, senior research officer in the tourism department.

Char Dham shrines remain shut for around six months every year, opening in summers (April or May) and closing with the onset of winter (October or November).

Last year over 500,000 pilgrims visited Yamunotri, Gangotri, Badrinath and Kedarnath shrines while in 2020 around 310,000 pilgrims had come for the yatra. In 2019, about 3.24 pilgrims visited Char Dham shrines.

The record-breaking rush of pilgrims created a chaotic situation initially in the first weeks of the yatra. The pilgrims who had to wait for two years due to the Covid pandemic restrictions came in large numbers this year, forcing the administration to cap the number of pilgrims per day and introduce online and offline registration facility at each shrine for first 45 days.

The number of pilgrims per day has been capped at 5,000 for Yamunotri, 8,000 for Gangotri, 13,000 for Kedarnath, 16,000 for Badrinath, and 5,000 for Hemkund Sahib, tourism officials said.

Over 238,0467 pilgrims have visited the four shrines so far -313,466 to Yamunotri, 404,607 to Gangotri, 800,096 to Badrinath and 766,510 to Kedarnath.

Pilgrims have welcomed the government move for registration to visit the shrines to avoid congestion but they say that the process should be easier and in vernacular languages for the convenience of people from rural backgrounds.

Anmol Desai, a pilgrim from Gujarat, said, “The pilgrims who registered to visit the major shrines should be allowed entry in the districts on the Char Dham route earlier than the registration date, so that they can enjoy their stay in other tourist destinations on the route.”

The unprecedented number of pilgrims to the four shrines also created the problem of waste management with tonnes of waste littering hill slopes on the way to Char Dham shrines. Even PM Narendra Modi had to appeal to people to keep the area clean.

The district administration after being inspired by the appeal of PM Modi 24 started a cleanliness drive under Swacch Bharat mission on the Kedarnath route under the guidance of Rudraprayag district magistrate Mayur Dixit.

Roshan Pundir, executive officer at Kedarnath nagar panchayat, said, “A special cleanliness drive was carried out at the Ghoda Padao base camp by the nagar panchayat and Sulabh Sansthan on Wednesday and about two quintals of garbage was collected, which is being sent for disposal.”

Rajesh Kumar, additional chief officer, Rudraprayag district panchayat, said, “A special cleanliness drive is being carried out by the district panchayat for the past 24 days and district magistrate Mayur Dixit has directed Sulabh Sansthan, zila panchayat and nagar panchayat to ensure better sanitation system and disposal on the Kedarnath Yatra route and the shrine.”

Meanwhile, the death toll at the Chardham shrines has reached 191, according to the data from the state disaster control centre, with 88 pilgrim deaths at Kedarnath.

BK Shukla, chief medical officer, said, “Devotees coming to Kedarnath shrine are being treated by the health department promptly by conducting a precautionary health check-up. In the event of ill health, doctors have been deployed for treatment of the devotees through OPD.”

Shukla said so far 92,656 devotees have been tested and treated through OPD, including 66,014 men and 26,642 women. He said so far 5,520 pilgrims have been provided oxygen facility, including 180 on Wednesday.