Dehradun: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Friday visited Lord Shiva at Kedarnath Dham. The doors of Kedarnath Dham will be closed for the winter on Sunday, November 3 at 8:30 am. The doors of Kedarnath temple were opened on 25 April.
CM Dhami worshiped in Kedarnath Dham
Kedarnath is one of the four high-altitude shrines in Uttarakhand, which include Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath. These temples remain closed for about six months every year, usually opening in summer during April or May and usually closing around October or November. The holy pilgrimage starts from Yamunotri, moves towards Gangotri, Kedarnath and finally ends in Badrinath. This year, all the four temples have received over 40 lakh visitors.
27,789 pilgrims visited Char Dham
According to the Chief Minister’s Office, 27,789 pilgrims visited the Char Dham on October 14. Of these, Kedarnath received the highest number of pilgrims at 11,309, Badrinath at 6644, Gangotri at 2406 and Yamunotri at 3290. This year the Char Dham Yatra started on May 10 with a delay of 17 days, whereas last year the yatra started on April 23 with the opening of the doors of Gangotri and Yamunotri Dham.
The state government made extensive preparations
The state government had made extensive preparations, which were being monitored by CM Dhami. He said that smooth and systematic Char Dham Yatra has been the top priority of the government and the government is committed to providing a safe environment to the pilgrims. He said that the Char Dham Yatra is also linked to the economy of the state. Seeing the speed at which the number of devotees is increasing in the state today, we have to further expand the travel arrangements. The exercise for this has also been started. Last year, 56.13 lakh pilgrims came on Chardham Yatra during the entire Yatra period. Similarly, 46.29 lakh pilgrims arrived for Chardham Darshan in the year 2022 and 34.77 lakh pilgrims in the year 2019. The Yatra was affected due to Corona infection in the year 2020 and 2021. The number of pilgrims in these two years was 3.30 lakh and 5.29 lakh respectively.
