By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun/Haridwar, 20 May: Despite tall claims by the state government and the administration that the Char Dham Yatra is proceeding smoothly, the situation on the ground indicates several shortcomings. To manage the unusually large rush of pilgrims to Char Dham shrines this season, the government had postponed offline registrations at its registration counters in Rishikesh and Haridwar till further orders. However, this has resulted in huge inconvenience for the pilgrims who arrived in Haridwar or Rishikesh several days ago and are still wating for turn to register. They have not been given any specific date for registration by the administration and many of them are facing boarding-lodging and issues like access to toilets. As a result, the pilgrims in Haridwar today created a ruckus, demanding that they be registered offline for the Yatra at the earliest without any further delay.
Registration of passengers was slated to start again from today. As soon as the counter opened, a crowd of thousands of pilgrims gathered, but after receiving the order from the government, the administration announced that due to the huge crowd in the four Dhams, registrations would not be possible today. After this, the patience of the devotees ran out and the angry crowd started creating a ruckus and shouting slogans against the government and the administration. The situation reached a stage that women crossed the barricades and demolished the counters.
District Magistrate Dhiraj Singh Garbyal reported that, on the instructions of the Chief Minister, arrangements for offline registration in the group were made yesterday, slated to begin today. He also claimed that registration of more than 1,700 pilgrims staying in various hotels or Dharamshalas in Haridwar was carried out but admitted that crowds of pilgrims are continuing to increase further, making it difficult for the administration to register everyone on the same day that he or she arrives at the counters.
Offline registrations for Chardham pilgrims were started from 8 May, but the six counters set up in the tourism office premises fell short in front of the huge crowd of pilgrims. This is apart from the factors, that due to unusually high traffic of pilgrims, the offline registration was postponed till further orders on 15 May. For 4 days, the offline registration remained closed from Rishikul Grounds here. However, pilgrims are continuously coming to Haridwar and Rishikesh to register for the Chardham Yatra. Because of the postponement of the offline registrations, the pilgrims are forced to sleep in the open or in some hotels, dharmshalas and ashrams and having to shell out money for this even before commencement of their Yatra. A large number of pilgrims are reported to have returned home because of non-registration. Those staying here have been protesting against postponement of the registration process and raising the demand to register them and send them for the Yatra.
The anguish of the pilgrims who have been waiting for registration over the past several days today forced them to raise slogans against the government. The police officials tried to appease the devotees. Many devotees also had a minor scuffle with the police.
A large number of pilgrims are stranded in Haridwar and Rishikesh. Police are not allowing pilgrims to go beyond Rishikesh without registration. Some of the pilgrims are stated to be stranded for more than 5 days in Rishikesh or Haridwar. They also expressed anguish that despite promising to open the registration counters today, the administration did not oblige. However, around 1,775 pilgrims in Haridwar and 4967 pilgrims did manage to get registered yesterday and today on the instructions of the Chief Minister but this has hardly helped most of the stranded pilgrims in Rishikesh or Haridwar.
Biggest inconvenience is for those who have booked cabs, buses or tempo travellers and paid in advance for their Yatra and now wish to return without travelling further due to non-registration. The travel agencies are refusing to return the advance charged by them.
Regarding the displeasure of the pilgrims, on behalf of the district administration, SDM Ajay Singh Veer said that a large number of pilgrims have arrived. Due to excessive crowd, registrations have been stopped now. These decisions have been taken keeping in mind the safety of the pilgrims. The administration is talking to the devotees who are staying in hotels and Dharamshalas in Haridwar for the last four-five days. They will soon be registered and sent for the journey.
