CM Dhami reviews Char Dham Yatra preparations
By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 28 Mar: Pilgrims from Uttarakhand will no longer be required to mandatorily register for the Char Dham Yatra. Chairing a review meeting of the preparations for the upcoming Char Dham Yatra at the Secretariat, here, today, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami issued instructions that the requirement for registration of local Char Dham pilgrims be done away with. He also said that all the devotees from Uttarakhand will be ensured darshan in the Chardham Yatra of Uttarakhand. Dhami also directed the officials concerned that arrangements should be made for darshan for devotees who have made bookings in hotels and homestays for the Chardham Yatra.
Dhami said that all preparations should be completed on time for systematic, smooth and safe Chardham Yatra. Devotees coming to Uttarakhand should also be encouraged to visit other major religious and tourist sites of the state along with the Chardham Yatra. For this wide publicity should be done about the major religious and tourist places of the state. An awareness campaign should be conducted by the tourism, police and transport departments through various mediums. To promote ‘Vocal for Local’, the Prime Minister has appealed to the devotees to spend 5 percent of their travel expenses on purchase of local products. Local products should be promoted on a large scale, the Chief Minister emphasised. Local products should also be kept in GMVN Guest Houses.
The CM directed that proper arrangements for crash barriers be made on Chardham Yatra routes. There should also be proper arrangements for boarding and lodging of the drivers at the parking sites on the travel routes.
The Chief Minister added that proper arrangements should be made by the police for crowd management at the upcoming Chardham Yatra. Whatever necessary information is to be taken from the devotees, should be obtained only once at the entry point of the state. It should be ensured that the devotees coming to Uttarakhand do not face any problems. The departments which have to depute their personnel on duty for Char Dham Yatra should give first priority to those who volunteer for the Yatra duty. Health camps being organised during Chardham Yatra should be organised in a systematic manner. Some local people should be kept as ‘travelling friends’ to be called Yatra Mitras for Chardham Yatra. He added that special care should be taken of the fitness of the vehicles coming on the Chardham Yatra, for this coordination should be done with other states as well.
Chief Secretary Dr SS Sandhu, Director General of Police Ashok Kumar, Additional Chief Secretary Radha Raturi, Secretaries RK Meenakshi Sundaram, Shailesh Bagoli, Arvind Singh Hyanki, Sachin Kurve, HC Semwal, Garhwal Commissioner Sushil Kumar, IG, Garhwal, KS Nagnyal, IG Ridhim Agarwal, Additional Secretary C Ravi Shankar, MD, GMVN, Vinod Giri Goswami, District Magistrate, Rudraprayag, Mayur Dixit, District Magistrate, Chamoli, Himanshu Khurana and District Magistrate, Uttarkashi, Abhishek Ruhela were present via virtual medium.
