U'khand police appeals devotees to postpone Yamunotri Yatra for Sunday

Dehradun, May 12 (PTI) After the huge traffic jam on the way to Yamunotri Dham, the police here asked the devotees to postpone their plan to visit the temple for Sunday.

The journey to Yamunotri Dham situated at a height of 10,804 feet in Uttarkashi district started on Friday on Akshaya Tritiya as devotees are making a beeline to all the Dhams, including Yamunotri, to have to pay their obedience.

The doors of the Badrinath temple in the Garhwal Himalayas in Uttarakhand opened for devotees on Sunday. With this, the Chardham Yatra to Badrinath, Kedarnath, Yamunotri and Gangotri has started. Uttarakhand Police, in a post on X, said, 'Today, as per the capacity, enough devotees have reached Yamunotri Dham for the yatra. It is risky to send more devotees now. It's a humble request to all the devotees who are going on yatra today to postpone it for a day.” The yatra will resume on Monday.

According to official data, till now 3.97 lakh devotees from across the country and abroad have registered themselves online for the pilgrimage.

More than 9,000 pilgrims who had come to visit Yamunotri Dham were stuck in the traffic jam between Barkot and Jankichatti for almost 24 hours.

The Superintendent of Police and District Magistrate of Uttarkashi went to the spot and took charge and somehow got the jam cleared.

SP Arpan Yaduvanshi said that the traffic jam on Saturday was cleared by the police during the night. At present the traffic is normal.

He said that 9000 pilgrims have reached Jankichatti, the base camp of Yamunotri, on Sunday and now there is absolutely no space to stay in the area.

Yaduvanshi said that the police have appealed to the pilgrims who are in Haridwar, Rishikesh, Uttarkashi or any other stop to postpone their yatra on Sunday as there is no place to stay in Yamunotri Dham.

He said, “Pilgrims should stay where they are.” On the other hand, Gangotri and Yamunotri National Highways in Uttarkashi district witnessed traffic jams. There was a two-and-a-half-kilometre long traffic jam in the afternoon at turn seven near Sukki on the Gangotri Highway, due to which the pilgrims had to face a lot of trouble. Later, the police cleared the jam by removing vehicles from the gate system from Gangnani and Songad. PTI DPT NB