Strictness on Chardham Yatra route: Limited number condition on Chardham Yatra, but tourist crowd at hill stations, hotel full for 10 days in Mussoorie-Nainital

6.5 lakh tourists arrived in Mussoorie, Nainital in 7 days, Chardham pilgrims also came here, without e-pass, darshan is not available, 7 thousand such people are being returned every day.

It has been 15 days since the Chardham Yatra started, but local businessmen are angry due to the rules limiting the number of devotees. Actually, in Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri, only one thousand devotees are allowed to visit every day. E-pass is required. On the other hand, there is no fixed number and no pass is required to visit the hill stations. Due to this a large number of tourists are reaching Nainital, Mussoorie. Booking of e-pass for Chardham Yatra is full till October 15, but people are reaching without e-pass. In such a situation, every day more than 7 thousand devotees have to return from the middle way.

Most of them are moving towards hill stations like Mussoorie, Nainital. In a single day, 85,000 vehicles are entering Mussoorie. Hotels in Mussoorie, Nainital, Chakrata, Harshil and Mukteshwar are running full book. There is such a crowd in other tourist places too. According to the order of the High Court, only the prescribed number of passengers reached the four Dhams, for this, checking points and barriers have been installed on the state routes. Such barriers are starting from Haridwar itself, in which passengers are facing problems due to the long line.

Ravindra Mehta has come from Amreli in Gujarat for 16 members of the family. They say that they are standing in line for 5 hours in Haridwar. The system of administration is bad, e-pass and those without pass have been put in the same line. Those without a pass are not being allowed to leave. They are fighting over this. This is wasting the time of pass holders like us. Lokendra Kaushik, who came from Jaipur, tells that he has come on a journey to Chardham with his family.

On reaching Haridwar, he was told that if he did not have an e-pass, he would not be allowed to go further. That’s why now he is going to visit Mussoorie, because there is no hassle of any kind of e-pass there. Jagdish Chandra, talking to the guide along with his family at Mussoorie’s Kitabghar Chowk, says that it is strange that only one thousand people can go to the Dhams every day, there is no such rule for other tourist places. Corona can be in both places.

On the other hand, along with the passengers, there is resentment among the traders and priests of the Chardham Yatra route. Rajesh Mehta, president of Badrinath Sangharsh Samiti, said that the yatra was started after five months, but a limited number of traders have been kicked on their stomachs. The priest of the temple, Tungnath Kotiyal, says that the necessity of e-pass has limited the number of devotees. Devotees have to return without darshan.

Hotel owner said – 30 days booking was received for the first time in Corona period

Virendra Negi, owner of Laxmi Palace Hotel in Mussoorie, says that he has one month’s booking full. For the first time in the Corona period, so many bookings have been received. In the last seven days, more than 6.5 lakh tourists have reached Mussoorie, Nainital. Most of the hotels have been booked for the next 10 days.