In view of rising road accidents and increasing human casualties on the Char Dham Yatra routes, the Garhwal commissioner Viniod Sharma, Garhwal Range deputy inspector general (DIG) of police Pushpak Jyoti, Dehradun district magistrate SA Murugeshan and senior superintendent of police Nivedita Kukreti along with other department officers inspected arrangements made for the pilgrimage at Rishikesh.
Sharma took stock of the vehicles carrying pilgrims on the routes in view of several such mishaps being attributed to technical faults in the vehicles ferrying the pilgrims.
Pilgrims complained to Sharma during interaction that they have not been getting vehicles from Rishikesh to start their pilgrimage for the past three days. He sounded annoyed over the shortage of transport facilities for the pilgrims and instructed the officers concerned to take steps to increase the number of vehicles to ferry the pilgrims to their pilgrimage destinations. Sharma assured the pilgrims that close to 130 buses which were stranded at Hathi Parvat on way to Badrinath following landslides would soon be available for them with the roads having been cleared of the debris and thrown open for the vehicles. He directed the regional transport officer, Haridwar to see to it that the vehicles plying on the Hardiwar- Mussoorie route are brought on Char Dham Yatra routes. Schools now being closed on summer vacation, the school buses should be brought on the roads leading to the four shrines to cope with the acute shortage of vehicles on the pilgrimage routes, he said. He also talked to the principal secretary transport over phone over the bus fares being high and requested him to ensure that the fares are reduced for the pilgrims.
He also ordered the officers in charge of the pilgrimage to provide adequate arrangements for the pilgrims immediately. Sharma also directed the sub-divisional magistrate and deputy SP to look after the pilgrimage arrangements until the senior officers are deputed for the same
He stressed on all type of counters like those meant for registration of photometric/biometric and vehicle booking being opened at one place for the pilgrims to facilitate a trouble- free pilgrimage.
DIG Pushpak Jyoti said that this year, the number of pilgrims has increased as compared to last year till date. “Around four lakh pilgrims have already visited the four shrines and the figure would shoot up to over seven lakhs during the six-month pilgrimage,” he added.
Dehradun DM Murugeshan directed SDM Rishikesh Brijesh Kumar Tiwari to take stock of the arrangements made for the pilgrims and improve the public address system through installation of enough number of loudspeakers. He also asked for waterproof tents being installed for the pilgrims at various places along the pilgrimage routes with rains lashing the routes almost daily.