Over 6,000 Char Dham pilgrims asked to stay in safe places amid rain
About 4,000 pilgrims are stranded in Kedarnath shrine, 2,500 in Badrinath
DEHRADUN: At least 6,500 pilgrims have been asked not to take the return journey from Kedarnath and Badrinath as heavy rains lashed Uttarakhand on Monday, said officials of the Char Dham Devasthanam Management Board.
“As per our information, there are about 4,000 pilgrims on the Kedarnath temple premises and 2,500 in Badrinath. We have asked all of them to stay in the lodging facilities there till Monday night and take the return journey after the weather clears on Tuesday,” said Ravinath Raman, chairman of the Board.
He said the appeal has been made amid a red alert issued by the Dehradun centre of the India Meteorological Department for heavy to extremely heavy rainfall in the state.
“The Char Dham Yatra has not been halted but an appeal has been made to the people to not take the pilgrimage today and tomorrow...They have been asked to stay put where they are in safe places due to threats of rockfalls and landslides on the highway amid heavy rains,” said Raman. The administration has stopped people in Haridwar and Rishikesh from going ahead with the Char Dham Yatra.
In Rishikesh, the running of Char Dham Yatra vehicles has been stopped from the bus stand with police putting barricades to prevent any traffic from moving up the hills towards the four shrines. In Haridwar too, the pilgrims have been asked to stay in safe places on Monday and Tuesday. Chief minister Pushkar
Singh Dhami visited the state control room of the disaster management department in Dehradun, where he reviewed the preparations to handle any emergency situation.
“The chief minister spoke to the district magistrates of Pauri Garhwal and Rudraprayag during which he was apprised that three people died while two were injured in Pauri Garhwal’s Lansdowne town after the ceiling of their house collapsed due to heavy rains. The Rudraprayag DM informed him about the Char Dham Yatra pilgrims in Kedarnath shrine,” said an official from the CM office.
“During the meeting, CM directed all the DMs to give hourly reports on the rain situation and clear blocked roads as soon as possible while keeping the response time to any emergency situation to the minimum.”
Dhami also urged the Char Dham pilgrims to take all precautions and stay safe.
After the heavy rain warning, the government had earlier ordered all schools to remain closed on Monday.
This year so far, over 1.78 lakh pilgrims have visited Char Dham shrines. The pilgrim influx increased after Uttarakhand high court on October 5 lifted the daily cap on the number of pilgrims who can visit Char Dham yatra following the state government’s plea that the limitation should be lifted as the COVID cases have down significantly in the state. Earlier on September 16, the court had lifted its June 28 stay on the yatra, paving way for the start of yatra from September 18 to the four shrines with COVID curbs.
According to Char Dham Devasthanam Management Board officials, last year, overall, 3.1 lakh pilgrims came for Char Dham Yatra. In pre-COVID 2019, over 32.40 lakh pilgrims had visited Char Dham shrines.
The four pilgrimage sites Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath- are collectively called Char Dham.