Keeping in view of the Covid crisis the Uttarakhand government has suspended Char Dham Yatra for the year 2021. Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat informed that people will not be allowed to perform the Char Dham Yatra this year but priests of the four temples will perform rituals and puja following the Covid protocols issued by the Central government.
The Char Dham Yatra was scheduled to begin on May 3 this year and the state government had earlier issued COVID advisories for pilgrims taking part in the religious Yatra. The Uttarakhand government had made negative RT-PCR test reports mandatory, among other guidelines for devotees.
The decision comes at a time when Uttarakhand recorded the highest single-day spike of 6,054 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, taking the tally to 1,68,616, while 108 deaths pushed the toll to 2,417.
Dehradun district accounted for the maximum number of 2,329 cases, followed by Haridwar, which reported 1,178 cases, Udham Singh Nagar 849, Nainital 665, Chamoli 175, Pauri 174 Champawat 153, Almora 140, Bageshwar 128 and Tehri 109, a state health department bulletin said.
The Yatra is managed by the Char Dham Devsthanam Board. In 2019, nearly 38 lakh pilgrims visited the holy shrines, but in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, only 4.2 lakh could embark only the holy pilgrimage.
Meanwhile, India reported 3,79,257 new COVID-19 cases and 3645 deaths on Thursday (April 29), taking the country's tally to 1,83,76,524. As many as 2,69,507 discharges have been made in the last 24 hours, as per Union Health Ministry