Dehradun: Char Dham Yatra is going on in full swing and additional security measures are being undertaken in view of the huge number of devotees who have arrived in Uttarakhand. Eleven devotees have died till now.
Chief Secretary Radha Raturi held a meeting with senior officials of concerned departments on Wednesday to take stock of the existing arrangements. Administration has urged pilgrims to visit the religious sites on dates stated during registration. It has been decided that permits of tour operators will be suspended if people undertake the yatra before their registration date.
Garhwal Commissioner Vinay Shankar Pandey said it is difficult to accommodate pilgrims more than Char Dham's capacity. A fixed number of pilgrims are allowed to visit Yamunotri and Kedarnath Dham at a time. The 5-kilometre trek to Yamunotri Dham is very narrow due to which only a limited number of pilgrims can cross it.
Last year, when the doors of Yamunotri Dham were opened, 6,838 pilgrims had darshan on the first day while, this year, 12,193 pilgrims visited Yamunotri Dham on the first day. Similarly, last year, 18,335 pilgrims took darshan in Kedarnath Dham on the first day while this year, the figure is 29,000. Overall, twice as many pilgrims visited on the first day as compared to last year at both the sites.
According to officials, compared to last year, around 75 percent more devotees have come to visit the religious sites making it challenging for Uttarakhand government to handle the additional rush. Garhwal Commissioner Vinay Shankar Pandey said that around 15,000 devotees had left for Yamunotri Dham from Janaki Chatti on Wednesday morning for darshan, of which, 4,000 devotees completed darshan till 10 am.
Similarly, till 10 am, 3,902 devotees visited Gangotri Dham, 8,194 Kedarnath Dham and 4,518 Badrinath Dham. Due to the rush, pilgrims had to wait for about two to four hours for their turn.
Pandey said instructions have been given to increase the number of washrooms at the waiting areas. It is expected that the situation will become normal by this evening or tomorrow morning, he said. "Safety of the pilgrims is of utmost importance and it is our responsibility to ensure that all the pilgrims are able to visit the dhams and return safely," he added.
Along with online registration, many pilgrims with offline registrations came for darshan resulting which a large number of devotees arrived here. The RTO, SDM and police have been ordered to check on random basis to ensure that pilgrims come here only on the dates stated during registration.
It has been told that pilgrims who do not come here as per their scheduled date will be made to wait for darshan. Also, the permit of the tour operator through which the tour has been undertaken will be suspended or may even be terminated on a permanent basis. Following which, he will be barred from driving during the Char Dham Yatra.
An instruction in this regard was issued by the Raturi to the Chief Secretaries and DGPs of other states. The district magistrates have been asked to identify places that can be turned into waiting zones of pilgrims.
Further Pandey has urged pilgrims not to embark on the yatra without a prior health screening. Pandey said that till now 11 deaths have been reported. During registration, pilgrims are asked to have a health checkup and health screening points have also been set up at many places here, he sadi adding that whenever a passenger is found unfit, he/she is advised not to travel.
"Many pilgrims come here although they are physically unfit. In such cases, pilgrims are made to submit an undertaking stating he/she is travelling despite being declared unfit by the doctors," he said.
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