Dehradun (Uttarakhand) [India], April 26 : Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Friday said that all the preparations have been done for Char Dham Yatra and around 16 lakh people have registered for the Yatra.
He said,"We have assessed and analyzed all the arrangements. And whatever preparations were necessary, all the preparations have been done. Wherever there was a need for improvement, roads, transport system, parking, hotels, dhabas, restaurants and police traffic system all has been discussed. The number of pilgrims in the Yatra is increasing every year, so there should be a good Yatra... till now around 16 lakh people have registered for the Yatra."
The Chief Minister during a meeting held in the Secretariat on Friday regarding the preparations for Char Dham Yatra 2024, has directed the officials to ensure proper arrangements of electricity, drinking water and roads on the travel routes during the Yatra.
The Chief Minister said in this high-level meeting that the security personnel deployed on the Yatra duty should be on alert mode, it should be ensured that the personnel deployed in the security are given rest every six hours.
He said that arrangements should be made for the stay and sleeping of the drivers coming on the Yatra.
In the meeting, the Chief Minister said that social media should be used better to give updates related to Char Dham Yatra to the passengers coming from outside. He directed that the directory related to Chardham Yatra should be made available in different languages in hotels, guest houses and homestays.
The Char Dham Yatra, or pilgrimage, is a tour of four holy sites: Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath. In Hindi, 'char' means four and 'dham' refers to religious destinations, as per the Uttarakhand tourism official website.
The high-altitude shrines remain shut for around six months every year, opening in summer (April or May) and closing with the onset of winter (October or November).
It is believed that one should complete the Char Dham Yatra in a clockwise direction. Hence, the pilgrimage starts from Yamunotri, proceeds towards Gangotri, onto Kedarnath, and finally ends at Badrinath.
The journey can be completed by road or by air (helicopter services are available). Some devotees even do a Do Dham Yatra or a pilgrimage to two shrines, Kedarnath and Badrinath, as per the Uttarakhand tourism official website.