By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 7 Feb: The Uttarakhand Government has begun preparations for the Char Dham Yatra 2023. Garhwal Commissioner Sushil Kumar held the first meeting for the yatra season with officials of various departments in Rishikesh today.
During the meeting, problems faced during the yatra in the past and arrangements for their redressal were discussed in detail. During the meeting, it was decided that the registration for the yatra would start from 20 February. There will be online as well as offline system of registration. Along with this, it was also decided that registration will be done through the same app of the Transport and Tourism Department. Last year, due to registration through two apps, the passengers had to face a lot of trouble.
It was pointed out that, last time during the Char Dham Yatra, there was an unprecedented crowd of pilgrims. As a result, the registration system had completely collapsed. Pilgrims had to wait for several days to register. Pilgrims also had to spend the night in the open at bus stands and on roads while waiting for registration. Measures were discussed in the meeting regarding how to prevent such inconveniences for the pilgrims this year. A detailed discussion was held on the expected crowd, traffic control, slot (registration) management and ensuring adequate arrangements for accommodation of passengers.
The meeting also stressed on measures to ensure the devotees do not have to stand in queues to have darshan in Char Dham shrines. For this, it was decided for the first time that a queue management system will be implemented by the tourism department. Under this, a token will be issued to the devotees on reaching the Dham. Expected time for the darshan will be mentioned in the token. After getting the token, devotees will not have to stand in line.
It may be recalled that that, last year, more than 46 lakh pilgrims had visited the Char Dham. The unprecedented amount of rush was also due to the fact that a full scale Char Dham Yatra was happening last year after a gap of two years due to Corona restrictions. The Char Dham Yatra had ended last year on 19 November with the closure of the portals of Bardinath Dham.
Last year, 17 lakh 60 thousand 646 devotees reached Badrinath Dham. 6,24,451 pilgrims had reached Gangotri Dham while 4,85,635 pilgrims had reached Yamunotri Dham for darshan. At the same time, a record more than 15 lakh devotees had reached the Kedarnath Yatra last year. According to an official estimate, the Char Dham Yatra had yielded business of around Rs 211 crores last year.
