Study on carrying capacity of towns on Char Dham route ahead of pilgrimage must, says activist

A scientific study on the carrying capacity of towns on the Char Dham Yatra route needs to be carried out ahead of the pilgrimage to avoid any last-minute chaos and confusion, an activist said here on Thursday.

A scientific study on the carrying capacity of towns on the Char Dham Yatra route needs to be carried out ahead of the pilgrimage to avoid any last-minute chaos and confusion, an activist said here on Thursday. The annual yatra takes place from April to June.

Anoop Nautiyal said the study will help avoid last-minute chaos on the route as witnessed last year during the initial days of the pilgrimage.

''The study of the carrying capacity becomes more important this year in view of the land subsidence crisis in Joshimath,'' he said. Joshimath is known as the gateway to the Badrinath, one of the Char Dham temples located in the Garhwal Himalayas. Badrinath is scheduled to open on April 27. The schedule for the opening of the Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri temples is yet to be announced. He said a scientific study of the carrying capacity of the entire Uttarakhand is needed but it will take a longer time. Therefore, a study of the towns on way to the Himalayan temples should be carried out first as they are likely to witness a huge rush of pilgrims once the yatra begins.

The process should be completed latest by the end of March, Nautiyal added. He said the study should be conducted by experts as district magistrates and sub-divisional magistrates do not have the required skill set to carry it out. ''Char Dham Yatra should be marked by adherence to scientifically calculated carrying capacity. The craze with making new pilgrim arrival records should be discontinued. It is important to involve experts and decide numbers latest by the end of March 2023,'' he said. Citing the example of the 2022 Char Dham yatra, he said a limit of 38,000 pilgrims per day was set just a few days ahead of the opening of the temples last year which led to a chaotic rush of pilgrims in its initial days as many were not aware of the daily limit. The limit was subsequently increased to 42,000 pilgrims a day. A record 61 lakh pilgrims visited Char Dham in 2022.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)