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Highest decline was recorded in Kedarnath Dham

Dehradun. The effect of active south-west monsoon in Uttarakhand is also clearly visible on the Chardham Yatra, where due to continuous rains and bad weather, the number of devotees reaching Chardham and Hemkund Sahib has declined by about 30 percent in the last five days. The biggest impact was seen in Kedarnath Dham, where the number of devotees decreased by 65 percent after the rains started. Monsoon became active in all parts of the state on July 1.

According to government data, a total of 27,232 devotees had visited Chardham and Hemkund Sahib on July 1. This number decreased to 19,202 on July 5. A government official said that with the increasing activity of monsoon, there is a continuous decline in the inflow of passengers.

According to him, the biggest decline was recorded in Kedarnath Dham, where on July 1, 6,553 devotees had darshan of Baba Kedar, on July 5 this number came down to only 2,297, that is, there was a decline of about 65 percent in five days. According to the official, it is natural that due to the difficult walking route and the possibility of landslides and bad weather during monsoon, the Kedarnath Yatra will be affected the most.

There has also been a significant decline in the number of pilgrims to Badrinath Dham. On July 1, 13,192 devotees had darshan of Lord Badrivishal, while on July 5, this number dropped to 9484, which shows a decline of about 28 percent. After the Meteorological Department has issued forecast of heavy rain in many hilly districts of the state for the next few days, its impact on travel is expected to increase further.

However, despite this decline due to monsoon, this year’s Chardham Yatra has made a new record so far. In just two and a half months since the start of the Yatra on April 19, a total of more than 41.56 lakh devotees have visited Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri Dhams. Apart from this, the doors of Hemkund Sahib were opened on May 23 where 1.76 lakh devotees have visited so far.

According to Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, this achievement is the result of the infrastructure developed by the state government, better road connectivity, strong security arrangements and facilities being provided to the passengers.

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