Uttarakhand's Chardham Yatra postponed amid COVID surge; portals of temples to open for priests only

The Chardham Yatra to the four famous Himalayan shrines in Uttarakhand, which was scheduled to begin next month, has been postponed in view of the massive surge in COVID-19 cases. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat said on Thursday that conducting the yatra amid the raging pandemic is not possible. The portals of the four Himalayan temples known as Chardham will open as scheduled, he said. However, they will open only for priests to perform regular prayers and not for devotees, he said. Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri are the four famous shrines. The state has reported 2,341 new COVID-19 cases and 108 deaths in 24 hours, as per data updated by the health ministry at 8 am on Thursday. The decision comes at the time that the Uttarakhand government is facing criticism for allowing the ‘super spreader event’ Kumbh Mela to go ahead despite a surge in cases. The state saw a 1,800 percent spike in COVID-19 cases between 31 March and 24 April, a period coinciding with the Kumbh Mela, which sees the influx of lakhs of devotees in Haridwar, New Indian Express reported. The Uttarakhand High Court had earlier observed that the pilgrimage cannot be allowed to turn into another Kumbh Mela. The deaths of four senior seers who died after testing positive for COVID-19 also occurred during the religious event. The yatra to the high-altitude Sikh shrine of Hemkund Sahib that begins on 10 May also faces a similar situation this time. The enquiries for Hemkund Sahib Yatra has been too low this year, Hemkund Gurudwara management committee vice-president Narinderjit Singh Bindra told PTI. With inputs to PTI