Char Dham yatra sees record footfall this year
The Hindu
Over 40 lakh pilgrims visited the four Himalayan shrines till date
The annual Char Dham yatra in Uttarakhand witnessed the highest-ever footfall this year with over 40 lakh people travelling to the four Himalayan shrines of Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri, Yamunotri, till Wednesday.
The yatra began on May 3 this year, the Akshaya Tritiya day, followed by the opening of the portals of Kedarnath temple on May 6 and Badrinath on May 8. The yatra will end with the closing of the Badrinath temple, scheduled on November 19.
According to the data provided by the State tourism department, 40,44,205 people took part in the Char Dham yatra this year – the highest number in the four shrines till date. Apart from Char Dham, 1,90,264 people undertook the yatra to Hemkund Sahib, one of the famous Sikh pilgrimage sites.
This year, there is a rise of 35% in the number of Char Dham pilgrims compared to the pre-COVID season in 2019, said officials from tourism department. Over 1.32 lakh people took the chopper to travel to Kedarnath temple, say officials in the Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority (UCADA).
Of the 40,36,357 pilgrims visiting the Char Dham, the maximum 15,25,183 people visited Badrinath temple followed by 14,25,078 in Kedarnath, 6,12,719 in Gangotri and 4,73,395 in Yamunotri.
With a month still left for the six-month yatra to end, the State is expecting at least another two to three lakh pilgrims.
According to State’s finance department officials, the yatra is a massive revenue and employment generator for Uttarakhand. The yatra provides direct and indirect employment to over 10 lakh people, including in hotel industry, restaurants/eatery joints, taxi-cabs, priests, mule operators, porters, travel operators and handicraft industry.