Uttarakhand govt increases daily number of pilgrims to Char Dham

The Uttarakhand government, on Tuesday, announced its decision to increase the number of pilgrims by 1,000 each to Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath, and Badrinath.

The Uttarakhand government, on Tuesday, announced its decision to increase the number of pilgrims by 1,000 each to Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath, and Badrinath. "The government has decided to increase the number of pilgrims at Chardham by one thousand," Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami told ANI.

With this, 16,000 devotees can visit Badrinath and 13,000 can have 'darshan' of the deity at Kedarnath Dham in a day. Now, as many as 8,000 and 5,000 pilgrims can visit Gangotri and Yamunotri Dham, in a day, respectively.

Earlier, when the pilgrimage began on May 3, only 15,000 devotees were allowed daily at Badrinath, 16,000 at Kedarnath, 7,000 at Gangotri Dham, and 5,000 pilgrims at Yamunotri Dham. The doors of the Gangotri-Yamunotri Dham were opened on May 3, whereas the portals of Kedarnath and Badrinath were opened on May 6 and May 8, respectively.

"There is always a huge throng of devotees on the first day of Yatra, for which long queues are seen for 'darshan' at Kedarnath, Badrinath, Yamunotri, and Gangotri," Chief Minister Dhami said. "The crowd, after the opening of the portals, have now been regulated to some extent and the Yatra is being driven in a finer way. Prior registration for pilgrimage is being made mandatory," the CM said.

According to Uttarakhand Tourism Development Council, this year, more than two lakh pilgrims visited Chardham; of which, 77,656 pilgrims visited Kedarnath alone, whereas, 49,215 thronged Gangotri Dham, 46,405 Yamunotri Dham and 30,773 devotees visited the Badrinath Dham. This year, the registrations for Yatra have also observed a new record as more than 10 lakh pilgrims have registered.

"To streamline the 'darshan', the capacity of 1000 passengers has been increased to each Dham," said the CM. Security forces along with a team of health officials have been deployed on the pilgrim route by the State government. 

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