Protests if govt won’t fix Char Dham Yatra policy: Hotel associations

The business community had also met chief secretary SS Sandhu and tourism secretary Sachin Kurve in this context, saying it will reduce business opportunities in the region.

Uttarakhand’s hoteliers and traders, who are impacted due to the state government’s decision to mandate online registration and cap the number of pilgrims to the Char Dham shrines, on Wednesday said they will launch an agitation if the government does not tweak its policy to accommodate their concerns.

The hotel industry says the state government should revisit its Char Dham yatra policy otherwise it will reduce the number of pilgrims to the shrines this year (Ht File Photo)

At a meeting to review the Char Dham yatra preparations, chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Tuesday said the condition of mandatory online registration will not apply to local pilgrims and directed officials to make arrangements for devotees who have made hotel and homestay bookings for Char Dham yatra.

But Dhami did not indicate any change in the government’s stand to introduce the daily limit and mandatory online registration.

The business community had also met chief secretary SS Sandhu and tourism secretary Sachin Kurve in this context, saying it will reduce business opportunities in the region..

Ajay Puri, president of Char Dham hotel and restaurant association from Uttarkashi said they had demanded that the government first conduct a study on the carrying capacity of the areas that fall on the yatra route before introducing a cap on the number of pilgrims or mandating online registration.

“We were being given false assurances that our demands will be looked into with a sympathetic view, but the chief minister has taken no action and continued with the flawed policy of capping of daily pilgrim numbers and online registration process for the yatra which is not followed in any shrine of the country including Vaishno Devi, Kumbh Mela, and Somanath yatra and now we are preparing a strategy for a long drawn agitation till our demands are not met”

Prem Dutt Goswami, president of the Kedar Ghati Hotel association in Rudraprayag said: “We were demanding relief in the capping limit of daily pilgrims, but the government has not taken any action on our plea, therefore we have decided to launch massive agitation which could be road blockage and demonstrations on the street for which a strategy will be made after consulting every member of the association.”

Goswami reasoned that the daily pilgrim limit for Badrinath was 15,000 and 18,000 for the Kedarnath shrine. But the capacity of the entire area to accommodate pilgrims and tourists is much higher, he said.

Mohan Prakash Maithani of the Kedar Ghati Hotel Association made a similar point, threatening to launch an agitation in the area if the government didn’t back down. “We appeal to the government to take back the capping limit,” he said, saying it would hurt the local economy.

Shailendra Matuda, president of Uttarkashi Hotel Association said many pilgrims who were regular visitors to the shrines have changed their plans and are moving away to other destinations “due to capping of the daily pilgrim numbers and cumbersome online registration process”.

He said the government should revisit its policy otherwise it will reduce the number of pilgrims to the shrines this year causing a great deal of loss of revenue to the state.”

Matuda said the Uttarkashi and Gangotri towns could accommodate 25,000 passengers but the daily limit of 5,500 pilgrims at Yamunotri shrine and 9,000 for Gangotri shrine will reduce the total number of visitors to the two towns.