May 11: In light of the surge in the Covid-19 cases in the country, the Uttarakhand government has made a vital decision of suspending Char Dham Yatra this year that was scheduled to take place from May 14. The Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat had announced the orders that this year, only priests of the four temples will be allowed to perform rituals.
This move of suspending the annual yatra came after Uttarakhand witnessed their highest single-day spike in Covid cases of 6,054 earlier on April 28.
The Chief Minister took to Twitter to share the news as he wrote, “In view of the increasing COVID cases and to ensure the safety of the visitors, the state government has postponed the Chardham Yatra.”
Also read: Uttarakhand CM directs officials to finish Char Dham arrangements before April 30
Previously, the government gave permission to organise the annual religious yatra that plays a significant role for Hindus. Earlier, the Uttarakhand government had said that they have already started preparing for the Char Dham Yatra to eliminate all possible barriers for the devotees. The government also made RT-PCR negative report mandatory for those who wish to go onto Char Dham Yatra 2021.
At the same time, the state government of Uttarakhand was also planning to fix a daily number of devotees for each shrine in order to contain the virus spread likewise last year. The per day number of pilgrims for the famous Kedarnath temple was 800, 1200 for Badrinath, 600 for Gangotri and 400 for Yamunotri.