By Our Staff Reporter
Rudraprayag, 8 May: Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami today reviewed the arrangements for Chardham and Kedarnath Dham Yatras in Rudraprayag with district level officials. The Chief Minister said that people from all over the country and abroad have faith in Kedarnath and every year the number of devotees is increasing. The number of pilgrims is expected to increase further in the coming times. In such a situation, it is necessary to prepare a strategic action plan keeping in mind the number of devotees in future. After this, the Chief Minister also inspected the Yatra route from Rudraprayag to Guptkashi.
The Chief Minister said that, in view of road safety, the initiative of planting trees along with crash barriers should be started on the yatra route. This, he said will reduce road accidents. If this experiment is successful in the district, efforts will be made to implement it in the entire state. He said that Rudraprayag district is the residence of Baba Kedarnath, hence the district administration should try to start such an initiative here and the entire state should adopt it. On this occasion, the Chief Minister said that Uttarakhand is a state full of diversity, hence the development strategy should be made keeping in mind the geography and other resources of the district. Along with development, it is also important to take care of heritage, he observed. Apart from tree plantation, he also instructed the district administration officials to make special efforts towards water conservation.
Dhami also directed the administration and police to ensure that special care is taken to ensure that devotees do not face any undue inconvenience under any circumstances and that they are welcomed with warm heart and treated decently. He noted that the employees and security forces on duty do not compete for VIP darshan. Apart from this, there should be proper arrangements for roads, sanitation, toilets, electricity and water supply, health and accommodation including food and this should be ensured continuously. He directed the police administration to prepare a strong system to protect the devotees from frauds in the name of heli services. At the same time, all the employees engaged in Yatra duty were also instructed to behave politely with the devotees. The Chief Minister also gave instructions to the officials to maintain the arrangements regarding drinking water supply and to make preparations from now for the upcoming monsoon season.
The Chief Minister also released warm jackets and uniforms prepared by the district administration for the sanitation workers, PRD jawans, volunteers, priests and other employees deployed on the Yatra route. Along with this, guidelines and help books prepared for the yatra route were also launched. During this time, the Chief Minister also launched a group insurance scheme of the district administration for all the employees and also issued the first insurance letter.
After reviewing the preparations related to the yatra, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami inspected the road from Rudraprayag to Guptkashi and took stock of various arrangements. During this, he also inaugurated the newly constructed Aanchal Café in Givani village on behalf of the Milk Department for the empowerment of women groups on the Yatra route. He also inspected the parking made at various places.
In the meeting, District Magistrate Saurabh Gaharwar and Superintendent of Police Visakha Ashok Bhadane presented the report of the preparations and new efforts made at the district level regarding the Kedarnath Yatra.
On this occasion, District Panchayat President, Rudraprayag, Amardei Shah, MLA, Rudraprayag, Bharat Singh Chaudhary, Lal Batti holder Chandi Prasad Bhatt, District Panchayat Vice President Sumant Tiwari, Garhwal Commissioner Vinay Shankar Pandey, IG, Garhwal, Karan Singh, Chief Development Officer GS Khati were among those present.
