Char Dham Yatra

Authorities stated that due to the landslide, the path leading to the shrine of Kedarnath had become unsafe for pilgrims, leading officials to suspend movement along the route until further notice

The road is blocked due to debris falling in Munkatia Sliding Zone under the Sonprayag area. The Yatra will resume once the road is cleared, said Rudraprayag police

DM Arya stated that instructions have been issued to the Indo-Tibetan border police and the forest department to construct an alternative route to ensure safe pedestrian movement in the region

Char Dham Yatra was halted as a precautionary measure following a cloudburst on the Yamunotri route

Char Dham Yatra halted as a precaution following a cloudburst on the Yamunotri route, with rescue operations underway for missing workers

The Yatra was temporarily suspended following the landslide, which resulted in the death of one person and injuries to two others

Helicopter crashes or emergency landings are occurring at an alarming frequency on the Char Dham Yatra route in Uttarakhand, causing concern among people and the administration. The latest crash of an Aryan Aviation Pvt Ltd chopper returning from Kedarnath near Guptkashi on Sunday morning, which killed all seven people on board, is the fifth mishap involving a helicopter on the pilgrimage route this year. A Kestrel Aviation helicopter en route Kedarnath made an emergency landing on the highway in Rudraprayag district on June 7 after developing a technical snag shortly after take-off. It made a hard landing on the road close to populated buildings, with its tail rotor hitting a parked car. All pilgrims on board, as well as the pilot, escaped narrowly. The hard landing of the helicopter came about a month after another private chopper on its way to Gangotri temple crashed near Gangnani in Uttarkashi district on May 8, killing six people, including five women and the pilot, and leavin

Aviation safety regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has ordered special audits/enhanced surveillance into helicopter operations involved in shuttle services in Uttarakhand following a spate of "occurrences" involving choppers during the Char Dham Yatra, according to an official statement on Monday. As a precautionary measure, DGCA is also reviewing the necessity of "curtailing" helicopter operations to Char Dham if required, it said. On June 7, six people, including the pilot, had a narrow escape last Saturday when a Kestrel Aviation helicopter on its way to Kedarnath made an emergency landing on the highway in Rudraprayag district of Uttarakhand after developing a technical snag during take-off. DGCA has also intensified its oversight of Char Dham helicopter operations by actively monitoring live camera feeds provided by the Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority (UCADA) at Kedarnath, it said. Recently, multiple occurrences involving helicopter operati

After multiple incidents during the Char Dham Yatra, the DGCA orders special audits and considers halting helicopter operations pending safety assessments

The Char Dham Yatra to the four Himalayan shrines in Uttarakhand will begin on Wednesday with the opening of the doors to the Gangotri and Yamunotri temples for devotees on the occasion of Akshay Tritiya, officials said on Tuesday. The doors to the other two Dhams -- Kedarnath and Badrinath -- will open on May 2 and May 4, respectively. The four temples remain closed for six months during winter. All preparations, including heightened security arrangements, have been completed for the Yatra, officials said. Uttarakhand DGP Deepam Seth reached Rishikesh on Tuesday and reviewed the security arrangements for the Yatra. Talking to reporters, the DGP said that in view of the recent terror attack in Pahalgam, which claimed 26 lives, strict security arrangements have been made for the annual pilgrimage. "We will not compromise on the security of pilgrims," Seth said. Nearly 6,000 police personnel, 17 companies of Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) and 10 companies of paramilitary force

The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, has alerted the public about online booking frauds, especially those targeting Char Dham pilgrims and tourists, across the country. These frauds are being perpetrated through fake websites, deceptive social media pages, Facebook posts, and paid advertisements on search engines such as Google, the home ministry said in a statement. The scams involve the creation of professional-looking but fake websites and social media profiles and WhatsApp accounts offering various services. These include helicopter bookings for Kedarnath, guest house and hotel bookings for Char Dham pilgrims, online cab or taxi reservation, holiday packages and religious tours, according to the statement. Unsuspecting individuals, upon making payments through these portals, often realise they have been duped when no confirmation or service is received and the contact numbers become unreachable. People are advised to exercise ..

The Chardham yatra route has been classified into 15 super zones, 41 zones and 137 sectors for better management of the annual pilgrimage to the four famed Himalayan temples of Uttarakhand, a senior police official said on Saturday. Inspector General (IG) Garhwal Swaroop on Saturday said more than 6,000 personnel will be deployed along the route to monitor security and transportation arrangements. Every sector will be spread over a 10-kilometre area, where security personnel will conduct patrolling and perform other duties round the clock, said IG Swaroop, who has been appointed nodal officer for the yatra. A control room, headed by Superintendent of Police (Traffic) Lokjeet Singh, is being set up at the range office, the IG said, adding that he will personally monitor the security arrangements, traffic, crowd and disaster management preparations. The Chardham yatra is scheduled to begin on April 30, with the opening of the Gangotri and Yamunotri temples. Kerdarnath will open on Ma

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami announced the state's winter pilgrimage initiative has been extended to a year-round event.

The doors of Kedarnath Dham will be closing for the winter season on Sunday, November 3 at 8:30 AM. The Kedarnath site opened its doors on April 25

The portals of the Badrinath Dham in Uttarakhand will be closed for the winter season at 9.07 pm on November 17, the temple committee said on Saturday. As per tradition, the "mahurat" of the closing date and time was decided on the occasion of Vijayadashami on Saturday after an assessment of the Hindu calendar and the position of the celestial bodies, Badrinath-Kedarnath Temple Committee Chairman Ajendra Ajay said. More than 11 lakh pilgrims visited Badrinath this year while Kedarnath witnessed a footfall of over 13.5 lakh devotees. As per an earlier announcement, Kedarnath and Yamunotri will be closed on November 3 and Gangotri on November 2. Similarly, the doors of Rudranath will be closed on October 17, Tungnath on November 4 and Madhyamaheshwar on November 20. The temples in Uttarakhand which draw lakhs of devotees each year from across the country and abroad are closed during winter as they remain covered in snow.

The proposed construction of a replica of Kedarnath in Delhi which had created a controversy recently has been withdrawn. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami had attended the foundation stone laying ceremony of the temple in Burari. "We decided not to construct the temple as some people from Uttarakhand objected to it and we realised that it would hurt religious sentiments," Suman Mittal, president of the Kedarnath Dham Delhi Trust, which was to build the temple in Burari, said in a press release. "We are constructing no temple with that name now," she said. The Trust has also stopped accepting online donations for the construction of the temple through a QR code, she said. The priests of the Himalayan temple located in Uttarakhand's Rudraprayag district had opposed its construction saying it was one of the 12 'Jyotirlingas' in the country and replicating it anywhere else meant showing disrespect to the centuries old temple. The opposition Congress had taken out a marc

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More than 650 pilgrims travelling to Badrinath were forced to return without paying obeisance at the temple as they did not fulfil the mandatory registration norm, officials said on Tuesday. Adequate steps are being taken to regulate the rush of pilgrims to Char Dham and avoid the chaos that occurred at the Himalayan temples during the initial days of the yatra, they said. Strict adherence to mandatory registration prior to visiting the temples is being ensured so that the devotees are not inconvenienced, they added. Over 650 pilgrims bound for Badrinath had to return from Gauchar checkpost without paying obeisance at the temple as they did not do the mandatory prior registration, the SSP office in Chamoli informed. As many as 120 vehicles in which the unregistered pilgrims had been brought were also sent back, it said. Action has also been taken against five vehicle operators who carried unregistered pilgrims to Badrinath, the SSP office said. On an average 20,000 pilgrims visit

Uttarakhand DGP also appealed to pilgrims to take extra precautions during the yatra as many tourists coming from outside do not have experience of hill driving

Uttarakhand Chief Secretary said that in order to streamline the process of Darshan at the Dhams, state government has started a process of registration for Chardham Yatra