Dehradun: The proposed Nanda Rajjat Yatra in 2026 will be celebrated as a folk festival. There should be maximum participation of local people in the Yatra and the government should be in the role of a supporter. Records related to Nanda Devi Rajjat Yatra will be preserved. The records of the Yatra will be written and preserved with the help of Garhwal and Kumaon University. These instructions were given by Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami in a meeting held in the Secretariat regarding the preparations for the Nanda Rajjat Yatra.
The Chief Minister said that this Yatra is the heritage of Uttarakhand. He directed the officials to widely publicize the Nanda Devi Rajjat Yatra in the country and abroad. Nanda Devi Rajjat Yatra will also be reached all over the world through Indian embassies, as well as motivate them to join this Yatra. Through this Yatra, Uttarakhand has to be given a historical form by connecting it with foreign countries. He said that the culture, tradition, costumes, musical instruments of Uttarakhand should be visible in the Rajjat Yatra. For this, the Culture Department was instructed to prepare an action plan. He said that the department should make such arrangements for the folk artists so that they get paid continuously. The Chief Minister asked the local public representatives and officials to hold a meeting with the stakeholders related to the Yatra and include their suggestions in the action plan. So that the Yatra can be conducted in a better way. He said that the route of the Yatra is in the high Himalayan region and sensitive. SOP should be made for better crowd management, disaster management from the environmental point of view, ban on single-use plastic in the Yatra. Along with the Yatra route, arrangements should be made for identification and improvement of alternative routes, small parking in populated villages, drinking water, toilets, eco tent colony, beautification of gaad-gadero, electricity etc. Arrangements for better network should be ensured in the Yatra route. He also directed to identify temporary and permanent works in the Yatra route and start the work by providing government approval for permanent structures within a month. Along with marking the landslide prone areas, the Disaster Department was also instructed to deploy sufficient number of JCBs, Poklands as well as operators on the route as per the requirement.
In the meeting, Tourism Minister Satpal Maharaj said that the yatra will start from Nandastami of Bhadra Paksha in 2026. The 280 km journey takes place in about 20 days, of which 20 km is on foot. This is the journey from Maa Nanda’s maternal home to her in-laws’ house, which is from Kasuwa near Nauti to Homkund.
MLA Anil Nautiyal, MLA Bhupal Ram Tamta, Vice President Infrastructure Monitoring Development Council Vishwas Dabur, Chief Secretary Anand Bardhan, Principal Secretary R.K. Sudhansh, Secretary Nitesh Jha, Mrs. Radhika Jha, Shailesh Bagoli, Pankaj Pandey, Sachin Kurve, Commissioner Garhwal Vinay Shankar Pandey, Vinod Kumar Suman and other secretaries were present in the meeting.
