DEHRADUN: Char Dham priests representing the Teerth Purohit Mahapanchayat met chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Monday and called for the lifting of the mandatory registration process for pilgrims for this year’s yatra. They also objected to the tourism department’s proposal to put a daily cap on the number of pilgrims suggested recently by the administration in light of severe land subsidence in Joshimath.
The priests said “experiments by state officials …will only lead to confusion and leave a heavy dent in the economy of the region that is mainly dependent on the annual pilgrimage”. The CM assured the delegation of priests that a state official will soon meet local residents, priests and other stakeholders to take a call on the issues.
The tourism department has proposed a daily limit of 15,000 pilgrims for Kedarnath, 18,000 for Badrinath, 9,000 for Gangotri and 6,000 for Yamunotri. Suresh Semwal, head of Teerth Purohit Mahapanchayat, said, “Uttarkashi (the district where Yamunotri and Gangotri shrines are) can accommodate up to 30,000 pilgrims and Gangotri has the capacity to take in 10,000 devotees at a time. Why the cap then?”
As for the mandatory registration, which the government has introduced to keep a track of pilgrims and their health condition, Semwal said, “Pilgrims from financially weak backgrounds don’t know how to register themselves. They would be denied the yatra. We have requested to call off the process.”
Priests have also objected that registration of Kedarnath and Badrinath started on February 21, while for Yamunotri and Gangotri, it will start on March 20. “According to tradition, a pilgrim first visits Yamunotri, then goes to Gangotri and Kedarnath and visits Badrinath last. Registration for the first two shrines should have opened first,” said Brijesh Sati, the spokesperson of the Teerth Purohit Mahapanchayat.