KANWAR SANGH

nisation of the yatra,” said a government spokesperson.

“We are in talks with the kanwar sanghs and other states,” added Awanish Kumar Awasthi, additional chief secretary (home), Uttar Pradesh.

The yatra attracts around 30 million pilgrims from many northern and northwestern states to Haridwar in Uttarakhand, where they collect water from the Ganga (gangajal) and take it back home, on foot or on cycles. Many of the pilgrims are from Uttar Pradesh, which is keen to go ahead with the yatra despite fears that it could be a superspreader event, and despite warnings from public health officials. Uttarakhand has already cancelled the yatra and said it will not allow the entry of pilgrims. Uttar Pradesh was looking at ways to ship gangajal in tankers and then allow the pilgrims to collect it by walk or cycle. Both states go to polls early next year.

The kanwar sanghs traditionally organise camps to provide food and lodging to the people travelling to Haridwar to bring water from the Ganga.

There were, however, people in the state opposed to the decision of the Sanghs.

Jagmohan Shakal, who is associated with Om Seva Samiti that organises camps for the pilgrims in Meerut, said, “We are merely sevadars (volunteers) of the kanwariyas and have no role in conducting the yatra itself and don’t have any authority to command the participants.”

An official, who did not wish to be named, said that in the absence of a common organisation for pilgrims, the state government consulted with the kanwar sanghs about the organisation of the pilgrimage. Shakal said the sanghs have no direct role in organizing the yatra. “The Sanghs’ role is restricted to seva and they even don’t carry a database of the kanwariyas,” he said.

Uttarakhand, which went ahead with the Kumbh Mela despite warnings from experts, saw a sharp increase in Covid-19 infections soon after. The management of the event has come under question with unearthing of a fake Covid tests racket.

Months after the Mahakumbh drew 9.1 million devotees and seeded clusters of infections, concerns have grown over the kanwar yatra.

Uttarakhand on Tuesday announced scrapping the annual pilgrimage this year, heeding warnings from health experts who cautioned that millions of devotees thronging the banks of the Ganga in Haridwar could spark a third wave of Covid-19.

The hill state also turned down a request from Uttar Pradesh, which allowed the pilgrimage to begin from July 25.

Last week, Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami told HT: “God won’t be pleased if lives are lost because of our laxity.”