DEHRADUN: Despite government endeavors to ensure safety of pilgrims and completing infrastructure development before the Char Dham yatra begins, officials feel that the fear psychosis of last year’s calamity will affect the flow of visitors to Kedarnath and other Himalayan shrines this year.
“Safety of visitors is our top priority and all measures to ensure that are being taken but the sense of insecurity among people is bound to affect the number of devotees visiting the famed temples of Uttarakhand this year,” Barinderjeet Singh, Superintendent of Police, Rudraprayag said.
He further said there is no cause for anxiety as the entire government machinery is working overtime to ensure a trouble free and smooth yatra for devotees and conceded that the sense of insecurity among potential visitors will go away only with time.
“The fear psychosis gripping people will not go away overnight. It will ebb only gradually as more and more people visit the shrines or the winter sport destinations like Auli in Uttarakhand hills and spread the word that everything is fine,” he added.
Speaking of steps being taken to make the annual pilgrimage absolutely safe for devotees of all age groups, he said slopes too steep along the 16-km pedestrian route from Gaurikund to Kedarnath are being made more gentle to suit the capacity of all pilgrims, the fit as well as the not-so-fit.
Torrential rain and floods in June last year had wreaked havoc to the four famed Himalayan shrines of Uttarakhand and washed away vast stretches of roads and bridges which dealt a major blow to religious and adventure tourism in the state, the mainstay of the hill-state’s economy.
Besides making efforts to strengthen the damaged infrastructure near the temples, the government machinery is also burning midnight oil to send a positive message to people outside the state that things are back on track in affected areas and they can visit the char dhams, which begins in the first week of May, without any worry.
Though a large number of personnel are at work in the Char Dham area, it is difficult to pin-point number of tourists expected for this year’s yatra, the first after last year’s deluge, Singh said.
“About 1500 personnel drawn from different departments are at work despite the vagaries of weather on the char dham route to provide safe accommodation and roads to people. But how many of them will pluck the courage to come to Uttarakhand this year will have to be seen as the yatra season begins,” he said.
With smooth conduct of the yatra on priority, the state government has set the Border Roads Organization (BRO) and the Public Works Department (PWD) a deadline of April 30 to finish road repair and reconstruction work en route to the shrines.
The yatra season begins this year with the opening of Gangotri and Yamunotri shrines on May 2 followed by Kedarnath on May 4 and Badrinath on May 5. -PTI
