Met warnings a dampner for Char Dham Yatra

Repeated warnings from the Met department regarding heavy rains have adversely affected the Char Dham Yatra this season in the Garhwal region.

D V Singh, chief executive officer of the Kedarnath-Badrinath Temple Committee, said, "There is hardly any pilgrimage in Kedarnath and Badrinath shrines."

With memories of last year's deluge still fresh, pilgrims have stopped going on the Char Dham Yatra. But the state government is finding it an uphill task to revive the yatra. "We are really in a Catch-22 situation where we cannot simply ignore the Met office's warnings of heavy rains," said Chief Secretary Subhash Kumar.

The Meteorological department's warning of heavy rains on Tuesday in the next 24 hours at isolated areas in Uttarakhand has left the state government in a lurch.

Despite the government's efforts to revive the Char Dham Yatra, considered to be the backbone of Garhwal's economy, the pilgrimage to Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri shrines has so far failed to pick up momentum mainly owing to the fear psychosis generated by last year's devastating floods.

The latest figures released by the Kedarnath-Badrinath Temple Committee show pilgrim inflow to both the shrines has been reduced by one-tenth this season compared to the previous years when Char DhamYatra generated Rs 12,000 crore last year.

Uttarakhand Finance Minister Indira Hridayesh said "This is a pretty bad season as far as the economy of the Garhwal is concerned."

The poor response to the Chardham yatra has affected nearly 8,800 dhaba owners, priests, and hoteliers, who earned through umpteen vocations in Garhwal. But there are a large number of people indirectly involved in such vocations.

Significantly, the temple committee's annual turnover is all set to decline this year to Rs 3-4 crore from an annual turnover of Rs 10 crore in the previous year. Besides, the committee had also suffered a loss of Rs 200 crore in the last year's devastation caused to its various hotels, inns and other businesses.

"The situation in Garhwal region is very precarious due to sharp decline in the pilgrims visiting the Chardham area," agrees a top government official. However, the government is hopeful the rains will not damage roads and infrastructure facilities reconstructed in the Chardham area.