Saturday, 23 April 2022 | PNS | Dehradun
With little more than a week to go for the commencement of Char Dham Yatra, the number of online registrations has picked up in the state. Over one lakh registrations have been made so far for the period from May 3 to 31.
For the first time, registrations for the Char Dham Yatra have been made mandatory for all the pilgrims coming to visit the shrines of Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri and Hemkund Sahib Gurudwara. The registration facility is available both online and offline. Those going for advance registration can avail the online facility while those arriving without registration will have to do on the spot registration at different registration counters on the Char Dham routes. However, since start of online facility, the number of registrations is rising steadily.
The Char Dham Yatra this year begins on May 3 with the opening of Gangotri and Yamunotri shrines. This will be followed by the opening of the portals of Badrinath and Kedarnath Shrines on May 6 and 8 respectively while Hemkund Sahib Gurudwara will open on May 22. The total registrations have crossed the one lakh mark with a total of 1,02,508 registrations so far. Of these 15,829 registrations have been confirmed for Yamunotri , 16,804 for Gangotri, 41,107 for Kedarnath and 29,488 registrations for Badrinath.
Tourism authorities are sharing the data with the districts concerned and police authorities. Besides online, authorities in the districts where the Char Dhams are located are making available on the spot offline registration facility for the pilgrims.
A control room has also been set up in Dehradun which is providing all relevant information to the pilgrims. Toll free number 1364 and helpline numbers 0135-1364, 0135-2559898, 0135-2552627 and 0135-3520100 have also been released for the purpose. An average of 400 to 500 calls are being received per day in the control room. Those manning the control room are also well versed in multiple languages for the ease of pilgrims who do not know Hindi or English.
This year, for the first time, a vehicle tracking mechanism has also been introduced. Cameras have been installed at various locations on the Char Dham routes that will keep a track of the vehicular movement. Cameras have been installed at Rishikesh, Badkot, Bhatwari, Joshimath and other routes leading to Char Dham. Yatra Mitras have been deployed at over hundred kiosks to assist with on-the-spot registration of arriving pilgrims.
