The Uttarakhand High Court (HC) on Tuesday has questioned the state government regarding the Char Dham Yatra (Gangotri, Yamnotri, Badrinath, Kedarnath), which is scheduled to start from May 14. The court has asked whether any SOPs have been prepared for the pilgrims. The bench of Chief Justice RS Chauhan and Justice Alok Kumar Verma, while hearing a bunch of PILs concerning the state’s handling of the pandemic, made an oral observation that the pilgrimage “cannot be allowed to turn into another Kumbh”.
Chief secretary Om Prakash, who was present at the hearing through video conferencing, said that the SOPs would be decided at the cabinet meeting scheduled on Thursday. State tourism minister Satpal Maharaj had said that Covid-negative certificates would be mandatory for Char Dham pilgrims from outside the state but no government order was released to the effect.
Uttarakhand High Court on Thursday commenting on Mahakumbh and Char Dham Yatra said that the government is causing embarrassment to its own people and questioned why the State cannot learn from its mistakes.
The bench comprising Chief Justice RS Chauhan and Justice Alok Kumar Verma remarked, “First we make the mistake of Kumbh Mela, then there is Char Dham. Why do we repeatedly cause embarrassment to ourselves?”
It is to be noted that Char Dham Yatra is suspended this year but rituals are to be continued to uphold tradition without the visit of any pilgrims to all four shrines- Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri. After Dilip Jawalkar, secretary tourism, Uttarakhand told the bench that for each place of worship there are guidelines in place, the court said, “No one is following your guidelines. Please take a chopper to Char Cham, you will find what the reality is. Please take next chopper to Kedarnath and see for yourself.”
The court also questioned the centre over diversion of Oxygen from Uttarakhand to other states without fulfilling the state’s demand.
Next hearing of the matter has been scheduled on June 9, 2021.
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