Char Dham, Gurdwara Hemkund Sahib pilgrims cross 2.3 millions

In 2019, over 3.2 million pilgrims visited the Char Dham shrines before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic led to curbs on the pilgrimage for the past two years

Mussoorie: Nearly 2.3 million of the 3.3 million people who registered for the pilgrimage to Char Dham and Gurdwara Hemkund Sahib have already visited the Himalayan shrines since May 3, officials from the Uttarakhand tourism department said.

Over 2,380,467 pilgrims have already visited the four shrines ; 313,466 to Yamunotri, 404,607 to Gangotri, 766,510 to Kedarnath and 800,096 to Badrinath.

“At least 3,322,269 pilgrims have registered to visit the Char Dham shrines and Hemkund Sahib (163,567) till Thursday (June 23) and we are expecting the number to reach around 3.8 million to 4 million by the end of this month,” said SS Samant, senior research officer in the tourism department.

Char Dham shrines remain shut for nearly six months due to intense snowfall in the winter months. The yatra opens in summers (April or May) and closes with the onset of winter (October or November).

The yatra is a tour of four Hindu holy sites — Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath — nestled high up in the Himalayas in Uttarakhand.

In 2019, over 3.2 million pilgrims visited the Char Dham shrines before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic led to curbs on the pilgrimage for the past two years.

In 2021, over 500,000 pilgrims visited the four shrines, while in 2020, around 310,000 pilgrims came for the yatra amid Covid-induced restrictions.

Over 2,380,467 pilgrims have already visited the four shrines — 313,466 to Yamunotri, 404,607 to Gangotri, 766,510 to Kedarnath and 800,096 to Badrinath, according to data from the tourism department.

Amid the record-breaking rush of pilgrims who waited for two years due to the restrictions in the wake of the pandemic, the administration put a daily cap on the number of visitors at each shrine.

“The number of pilgrims per day has been capped at 5,000 for Yamunotri, 8,000 for Gangotri, 13,000 for Kedarnath, and 16,000 for Badrinath,” a tourism department official said.

While pilgrims have welcomed the government’s move for online registration to visit the shrines in order to avoid congestion, some of them said the process should be easier and also be made available in vernacular languages.

“The pilgrims who registered to visit the major shrines should be allowed entry in the districts on the Char Dham route earlier than the registration date, so that they can enjoy their stay in other tourist destinations on the route,” said Anmol Desai, a pilgrim from Gujarat.

So far, 191 pilgrims died due to various reasons in the Char Dham yatra so far, with maximum 88 casualties being reported at Kedarnath, according to the data from the state disaster control centre.

“Devotees coming to Kedarnath shrine are being treated by the health department promptly by conducting a precautionary health check-up. In the event of ill health, doctors have been deployed for treatment of the devotees through OPD,” said BK Shukla, chief medical officer, Rudraprayag.

So far, 92,656 devotees have been treated through OPD, including 66,014 men and 26,642 women, Shukla said, adding that 5,520 pilgrims have been provided oxygen facility, including 180 on Wednesday.