By Arun Pratap Singh
Nainital, 7 Aug: A petition was heard today by the Uttarakhand High Court regarding holding of the annual butter festival in the world renowned Dayara Bugyal in district Uttarkashi. The petition was filed on behalf of Dayara Tourism Development Committee seeking permission of the Court to allow participation of 2,500 persons in the annual Butter Festival.
In response to the petition, the Court today accorded permission to 1,500 persons to participate in the festival and that too with certain conditions.
It may be recalled that ostensibly to protect the environmentally sensitive areas in Uttarakhand including the bugyals, the High Court had issued strict directions restricting human activities in these areas. The Butter Festival is scheduled to be celebrated in Dayara Bugyal in Uttarkashi on 16 August. The Dayara Tourism Development Committee had submitted an application in the High Court seeking permission for more than 2,500 people to visit the Bugyal for participation in the butter festival.
It may be recalled that, in 2018, the Nainital Court had issued several instructions to the state government to preserve the Bugyals, which are considered sensitive environmentally. Earlier, in its order, the court had banned the movement of more than 200 people in the Bugyals. The court also restricted the night stay of more than 200 persons per night in these bugyals. Apart from this, other commercial activities including construction of permanent structures were also banned, but every year in Dayara Bugyal of Uttarkashi, the traditional and religious Andhuri festival is celebrated on the Sankranti of Bhadrapad month, which falls on 16 August this year. Traditionally, locals from about 5 villages located around the bugyal have been participating in this festival.
The festival resembles the Holi festival but it is played with milk, butter and butter milk in place of colour. Since human activities have been restricted by the court in the bugyals, the traditional festivals such as the butter festival have taken a hit and there prevails confusion among the local people regarding participation in the festival. In order to host the festival in a legal manner, the Dayara Tourism Development Committee, which organises the Butter Festival, had sought the High Court’s permission to hold the festival. This year, the first Ekadashi and Dwadashi of Bhadra Paksha are falling on 15 to 16 August respectively when the festival is to be held. The petitioners had sought permission to allow participation of more than 200 at a time. While hearing the case yesterday, the High Court had asked the petitioner how many people would participate in the Butter Festival and had also sought a list of the participants. Today, the petitioners informed the court that around 2,500 people will participate and sought the permission of the court to allow the festival to be held. However, the High Court allowed only 1,500 people to participate and also added the condition that the participants should not be sent in groups of more than 200 persons at a time. The Court also directed the government to fix a time for going to the bugyal for participation of each group and the time for return. The Court further directed the government to deploy forest department and police personnel to ensure strict compliance and also directed the government to ensure that the place is left sanitised and cleaned up after the festival and to share the photographs with the court.
It may be pertinent to point out here that due to the restrictions on human activities in the bugyals, tourism in Chopta has suffered a lot in recent years. There are hardly a handful of homestays and hotels in Chopta, which attract Shiva devotees and trekkers alike in good numbers. While Shiva devotees take a trek to Tungnath, the trekkers visit several trekking routes in the area and they like to stay in Chopta for the night. Besides a handful of hotels, there are some tent colonies to house the trekkers in the area but other commercial activities remain restricted and there are only three to four dhabas, forcing the tourists and the pilgrims to go to other places like Ukhimath for night stay.
