Tourists rush to U'khand to escape heat

With the mercury shooting up in India, the summer rush of pilgrims and tourists to the cool climes of Uttarakhand is also on the rise.

From Mussoorie to Nainital and from Badrinath to Kedarnath, the top hill resorts and pilgrim centres are teeming with pilgrims and tourists alike mostly coming from Gujarat, Delhi, Rajasthan where the temperature is becoming unbearable.

The rush is heavy at the top Hindu shrine of Badrinath where a total of 1.25 lakh pilgrims visited since it reopened for pilgrims on May 19. Similarly, 70,000 pilgrims visited Kedarnath, 96,000 to Gangotri and 62,000 to Yamunotri during the past 7-10 days. The pilgrims visiting both Badrinath and Kedarnath in the first week this season are 4 times more than the last year.

Both Pawan Hans and Prabhatam, the two chopper airlines are making 45 to 50 sorties daily to Kedarnath shrine perched on the dizzying height of 3,584 metres in the Garhwal region.

“This rush is the heaviest in the recent years in our hill state and obviously it is due to the hot weather conditions across the country. We are expecting more rush in coming days,” said Tourism Minister Madan Kaushik.

The hill resort of Nainital, which attracts tourists mostly from Delhi, has its hotels running full occupancy. However, the rush is not so heavy in Mussoorie. “The hotel occupancy rate is only 30 to 40 per cent in Mussoorie,” said President of the Uttarakhand Hotel Association S P Kochar. However, Koachar expects the rush to increase in coming days. The tourists are also visiting in lesser known destinations like Binsar, Chakrata, Ranikhet and Khirsu.

Keeping in view the rush of pilgrims, the Uttarakhand government has now deployed tourism police across the Chardham tourist circuit by opening 46 tourist booths.

Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has also instructed the tourist department to strengthen facilities in the popular tourist sites.