Taking traditional Uttarakhand route to Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage will be a costly affair for the pilgrims this year. Under the revised travel tariffs, the devotees of this pilgrimage will have to pay Rs3,000 per head more this year to visit Kailash Mansarovar via Uttarakhand which is likely to begin on June 12.
Till last year, the travelling charges for the pilgrimage in the Indian territory were Rs32,000 per devotee. So, now with raising the travel charges by Rs3,000, a pilgrim will have to pay Rs35,000 per head to visit the Kailash Mansarovar via Uttarakhand, said DK Sharma, Divisional Manager, Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam (KMVN).
The KMVN looks after the hospitality aspect including travelling of the devotees of this Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage. The travelling charges of the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage had not been revised for a long time. So, on our request, the Ministry of External Affairs under whose supervision this pilgrimage is conducted, allowed us to revise the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage travelling charges, added Sharma.
Apart from paying Rs35,000 as travel charges in the Indian Territory, devotees also have to pay US $901 per head in the Tibetan/Chinese territory to visit the holy Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage, as the officials concerned said. In the meanwhile, preparations are on for ensuring a successful, safe and comfortable Kailash Mansarovar yatra via Uttarakhand this year too, said the official concerned of the KMVN.
As many as 18 batches i.e. 60 pilgrims in each batch would go on the holy Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage this year too through this traditional route of Uttarakhand. Earlier, only 16 batches of pilgrims used to go on this annual Holy Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage. But from 2013 onwards, the number of batches of pilgrims had been raised up to 18. So, this year too as many as 18 batches of pilgrims would be sent on this pilgrimage via Uttarakhand.
More so, the timing of commencement of this pilgrimage will remain the same i.e. June 12. Earlier, the same pilgrimage used to commence from New Delhi on June 1. But interestingly, from 2013 the timing of the said holy pilgrimage had been rescheduled to June 12. As per the traditional route of Uttarakhand, this pilgrimage starts from New Delhi to the Kailash Mansarovar via different locations including Almora, Dharchula, Narayan Ashram, Sirkha, Gala, Bundi, Gunji, Nabhidhang, lipu Pass and then the holy shrine, Kailash Mansarovar.
The holy Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage had to be cut short on account of devastating natural disaster that Uttarakahnd had to face during monsoon season in 2013. But the pilgrimage was conducted successfully last year.
Interestingly, though a new route to Tibet via Nathu-la pass for Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage has also been opened from this year, enthusiasm among the devotees to go to the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage through the old Uttarakhand route is huge, as the officials concerned maintained.