By Our Staff Reporter
Chamoli, 10 Oct: The portals of holy shrines of Hemkund Sahib were closed for the winters at 1:30 pm today. One of the most revered shrines for the Sikhs across the world, Hemkund Sahib Gurdwara remained open this season only for 36 days in view of the Corona pandemic. During the closing ceremony of the portals of Hemkund Sahib, a batch of about 1350 Sikh devotees witnessed the last Ardas (prayers). The process of closure of Hemkund Sahib started on Saturday morning. The first Ardas occurred at 9.30 am. This was followed by recitation of Sukhmani paath at 10 am and Shabad Kirtan at 11 pm. After recital of the last Ardas of this year at 12: 30 pm, Guru Granth Sahib was seated in Sachkhand under the leadership of Panj Pyare and the portals of Hemkund Sahib were closed for the winter with due rituals at 1:30 pm. This year, most religious shrines remained closed for several months in view of the lockdown and then Corona restrictions and therefore the portals this year of Hemkund Sahib were opened for the devotees only on 4 September. As against the total number of 2.39 lakh devotees visiting the shrine last year, this year only around 8,500 devotees could visit the Gurdwara in a season that lasted merely 36 days.
Chief Manager of Hemkund Sahib Management Trust, Seva Singh said that the Gurdwara received full cooperation from the local, district and the state administration as well of the local people during the Yatra season and that the trust was grateful to all concerned for this. He added that the devotees reaching this year also cooperated fully with the authorities and strictly adhered to the guidelines in respect of Corona in forces in the state. On the occasion of the closure of the portals of Hemkund Sahib, the general secretary of the trust Sardar Ravindra Singh, Sandeep Singh from Delhi, Gurmak Singh from Punjab as well as devotees from Pune, Nagpur, Uttarakhand, Bajpur etc. were present.
Along with this, the portals of the sacred shrine of Hindus Lakshan Lokpal, located in the high Himalayan region, were also closed today after conducting due rituals.
