Uttarakhand cancels Char Dham Yatra amid rising COVID cases

The Uttarakhand government has decided to suspend Char Dham Yatra this year due to the rising cases of Coronavirus in the country. The Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat has issued an order stating that only priests of the four temples will perform rituals this year. Apparently, the government had earlier given permission to organise the annual religious yatra from May 14.

The CM took to Twitter and tweeted (English translation):
“In view of the increasing COVID cases, the state government has postponed the Chardham Yatra.”

कोविड के बढ़ते प्रकोप को देखते हुए राज्य सरकार ने चारधाम यात्रा को स्थगित कर दिया है। धामों के कपाट निर्धारित समय पर ही खुलेंगे और तीर्थ-पुरोहित मंदिरों में नियमित रूप से पूजा-पाठ करेंगे, लेकिन श्रद्धालुओं की सुरक्षा के मद्देनजर चारधाम यात्रा को स्थगित रखने का निर्णय लिया गया है।

— Tirath Singh Rawat (@TIRATHSRAWAT) April 29, 2021

Earlier the government of Uttarakhand had said that the state government has already started preparation for the Char Dham Yatra by making negative RT-PCR test reports mandatory for devotees.

The government was also thinking of capping the number of devotees in a particular shrine on a day. Last year in 2020, the government had done the same thing. The per day number of pilgrims for the famous Kedarnath temple was 800, 1200 for Badrinath, 600 for Gangotri and 400 for Yamunotri.

The big move comes after Uttarakhand recorded the highest spike in a day of 6054 on Wednesday.