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Safety, convenience of Char Dham pilgrims is top priority of Govt: Vinay Shankar Pandey

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11 deaths of pilgrims reported during Yatra

By Arun Pratap Singh

Dehradun, 15 May: Addressing a press conference at the Media Centre here, today, Secretary and Garhwal Commissioner Vinay Shankar Pandey claimed that all possible steps are being taken to ensure smooth and safe journey of Char Dham pilgrims. Pandey shared that Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has issued strict directions in this regard and these are being strictly adhered to for the Char Dham Yatra. The Chief Minister has made it clear that every devotee should get the benefit of darshan and that a balance maintained to ensure that the journey is safe.

Pandey stated that, till yesterday, a total of 26,73,519 (26.73 lakhs) online registrations have been done for the Char Dham. Of these, 4,21, 366 registrations have been done for Gangotri, 4,78, 576 registrations for Yamunotri, 9,07,060 for Badrinath Dham and 8,13,558 for Kedarnath Dham. In addition, 59,312 registrations have been done for Hemkund Sahib. Apart from this, a total of 1,42,641 registrations have been done in offline mode through registration offices in Haridwar and Rishikesh between 8 and 14 May.

The Garhwal Commissioner added that a total of 59,158 devotees visited Yamunotri, 51,378, Gangotri, 1,26,306, Kedarnath, and 39,574, Badrinath Dham, till yesterday evening. Pandey claimed that it is a matter of great fortune for Uttarakhand that such a large number of pilgrims are visiting the Char Dham shrines.

He conceded that to manage such a large inflow of pilgrims is a major challenge. He reminded that a 5 kilometre long stretch of road leading to Yamunotri is narrow and, therefore, only a limited number of pilgrims can travel simultaneously on this route.

He reminded that, last year, when the portals of Yamunotri had opened, a total of 6,838 devotees had come, whereas this year, 12,193 pilgrims came on the day of opening of the portals of Yamunotri on 10 May. Similarly, when the portals of Kedarnath Dham opened last year, 18,335 devotees were present, while this year over 29,000 devotees were present on 10 May, the opening day. He stressed that more devotees are arriving compared to last year, due to which some problems are being faced, but also claimed that adequate measures are being taken to overcome these issues. He shared that there were a total of 15,455 devotees in Janaki Chatti of Yamunotri Dham, out of which a total of 4 thousand had visited till today till 10 a.m. Besides this, a total of 3902 people visited Gangotri today while 8194 visited Kedarnath and lastly 4518 pilgrims visited Badrinath today till 10 a.m.

Pandey claimed that safety of the devotees is the top priority of the state government and that, keeping this in mind, the pilgrims are being accommodated at safe places along the journey He emphasised that, in view of the safety of the pilgrims, some are also being accommodated along the Yamunotri and Gangotri route. A gate system has been implemented while returning from Sookhi Top and beyond Gangnani. There is a single lane road there, hence the journey has to be regulated and arrangements for halt of the vehicles have also been made.

He said that safety of visitors is important and the government and the administration are trying their best to provide the best facilities to ensure there is no undue inconvenience is caused to the pilgrims.

The Commissioner also shared that important decisions were taken at the meeting chaired by the Chief Secretary, Radha Raturi, today. It was stressed that devotees should not travel without registration, permits of the vehicles found commuting without registration are liable to be suspended for carrying unregistered passengers.

Pandey also shared some details of the meeting that was held in the morning. In the meeting, it was revealed that many of those pilgrims who had registered for later dates such as 20, 21 and 22 May at the registration offices in offline mode were also travelling earlier than their scheduled dates. Due to this, also, the number of devotees has increased. The Chief Secretary has given instructions that from today the teams of RTO and district administration will do strict checking at the local level.

The Commissioner said that information about how much long the pilgrims have to wait for their turn for the travel is being shared with the pilgrims concerned through bulk SMSs. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami is continuously giving instructions to the officials regarding travel arrangements.

Secretary to the Chief Minister, R Meenakshi Sundaram has been instructed to camp in Uttarkashi to oversee the Yatra arrangements.

Pandey also claimed that adequate arrangements have been made for health screening of the devotees and that he had personally reviewed this while in Rishikesh. All the devotees who are coming are being provided slips for screening. Besides, they are also being given a form in which they are being asked about their health history. He urged the pilgrims not to hide details of their health. They should remember that all these four Dhams are at high altitude where people who suddenly come from hot areas face difficulty in adjusting to the conditions. He said that health advisories have also been issued by the Health Department in a total of 14 languages. Till now information about the death of 11 people has been received at different places. Adequate screening facilities are available for 18,000 devotees per day for those travelling to Kedarnath and for 8,000 pilgrims per day for those travelling to Yamunotri.