HC to hear Yatra plea today

Nainital: The Uttarakhand high court on Monday agreed to hear the state government’s plea seeking modification of its earlier order where it limited the number of pilgrims to the shrines of Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri.

The plea was mentioned before the Bench of Chief Justice RS Chauhan and Justice Alok Kumar Verma by the government on Monday and the bench listed the case for further hearing on Tuesday. The court is likely to pass its orders on the issue on the same day.

The state government had approached the HC last week arguing that since September 18, when the shrines had been opened to pilgrims, no Covid case had been reported. Besides, with only a month-and-a-half left for the Yatra to conclude, the HC should do away with the limit on pilgrims to each of the shrines or extend the limit to at least 3,000 a day to Kedarnath and Badrinath, 1,000 for Yamunotri and 700 for Gangotri.

The modification plea was moved as a large number of pilgrims at the shrines were turned away once the sanctioned limit was reached. Locals and traders had also made similar demands, saying due to the limited number of mandatory e-passes being issued, people were wary of travelling as hundreds had been turned away. The police and district administration of Rudraprayag informed TOI that nearly 4,000 people had been turned away from Kedarnath in the last fortnight.


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