Char Dham priests threaten agitation if restrictions on yatra not lifted

Dehradun: Char Dham priests on Wednesday threatened to launch an agitation if those coming for the annual pilgrimage were not exempted from mandatory regulations like online registration and proposed daily limit on the number of pilgrims visiting the Himalayan temples.

"A majority of the pilgrims are poor, elderly and illiterate. Registering for the yatra online is not easy for them. It is unpractical to impose the formality on the yatris prior to the pilgrimage," Teerth Purohit Mahapanchayat president Suresh Semwal told PTI.

Citing the example of last year, he said many pilgrims who came for the yatra from rural areas of Uttar Pradesh had to return from Rishikesh and Haridwar as they had not registered in advance for it. As far as keeping a record of the yatris going on the pilgrimage is concerned, it can also be done through police verification, he said. Semwal also raised objections to the order in which the registration process was being followed, saying it tampered with the Hindu traditions.

"According to our scriptures, Yamunotri is to be visited first by pilgrims followed by Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath. But this order has been changed. The registration for Kedarnath and Badrinath has started, while the registration for Yamunotri and Gangotri which are scheduled to open before them are yet to begin," he said.

Yamunotri and Badrinath open for devotees after the winter break on April 22, while Kedarnath and Badrinath open on April 25 and April 27, respectively.

Semwal also opposed the tourism department's proposal to impose a daily limit on the pilgrims visiting the Himalayan temples. Calling it totally "illogical", he said the tourism department has proposed a daily limit of 6,000 for Yamunotri and 18,000 for Badrinath, the road to which goes through land subsidence-hit Joshimath.

"We have put forward our demands before Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami. He has assured us to resolve them, but if he does not, we will have to agitate," Semwal said.

Though a proposal for the imposition of a daily cap on pilgrims is under consideration, especially in view of the land subsidence crisis in Joshimath, a decision on this is yet to be made.

"These regulations only complicate the pilgrimage for the yatris rather than making it smooth," Semwal, who had led a delegation of teerth-purohits to Dhami recently in protest against the regulations, said.

"... if our demands are not conceded, we will have no option but to resort to an agitation with the support of all stakeholders, including tour and travel operators," the Teerth-Purohit Mahapanchayat president said.

He also said the Centre's much hyped all-weather road was of no use if a daily limit was imposed on the number of pilgrims visiting the temples.

"On one hand, the Centre claims that 12,000 vehicles can ply daily on the Char Dham all-weather roads, and on the other hand,it prepares to limit the number of pilgrims visiting the temples. Isn't it self-contradictory?" Semwal asked.