The Nanda Devi Raj Jat Yatra reached its ninth halt — Nandkesari in Chamoli district on Tuesday with devotees carrying the ceremonial umbrellas of deities from various parts of Garhwal and Kumaon converging. However, with various public representatives and politicians also attending the event, the thousands of devotees had to face problems due to inadequate arrangements and the focus of the authorities on preventing any inconvenience to the politicians.
The Nanda Raj Jat reached the Shiv-Parvati (Nanda) temple at Nandkesari. Devotees carrying the ceremonial umbrellas of various deities from parts of Garhwal and Kumaon converge here and from hereonwards move together towards Baan. Devotees carrying ceremonial umbrellas from Almora, Someshwar, Chaukhutia, Dwarahat, Ranikhet, Martoli, Bageshwar, Baijnath and Garud from the Kumaon region reached Nandkesari on Tuesday. Vidhan Sabha speaker GS Kunjwal, deputy speaker AP Maikhuri, PCC chief Kishore Upadhyaya and ex MP Pradeep Tamta were also present on the occasion.
However, the presence of these public representatives and politicians caused inconvenience to the devotees. With the authorities focusing their efforts on ensuring the convenience of the politicians, the resulting disorder prevented many devotees even from getting a glimpse of the deities in the temple at Nandkesari. Devotees complained that the authorities had made inadequate arrangements for sheltering and feeding the thousands of devotees who reached Nandkesari. It is pertinent to mention here that politicians have been visiting various halts of this Yatra since it began on August 18, which in turn has been causing inconvenience to the general public participating in the Yatra.