The Rajaji national park administration is trying to prevent disturbance to wildlife and damage to environment during the Kanwar Mela, especially in view of the thousands of men expected to travel to the Neelkanth Mahadev temple near Rishikesh.
Though permission has been granted to hold one public feast (Bhandara), the national park administration is refusing to permit more such feasts from being held on the stretch of the route to the temple which passes through Rajaji.
In order to prevent confrontation with wildlife or harm to the environment, the national park administration has stressed that such feasts should be held outside the protected forest area even though pressure is being exerted on the officials to allow such events. This area is frequented by elephants and the movements of pachyderms are liable to be altered during the rains. About seven kilometres of the pedestrian route to the Neelkanth temple passes through the Gohri range of Rajaji.
The area is frequented by elephants and is also known to host tigers apart from other wildlife. Though lakhs of Kanwarias, mostly from outside Uttarakhand, visit the shrine every year during the Shravan month, this year the number is expected to be less due to the recent disaster.
However, with the Government prohibiting them from visiting the mountainous regions in view of the damaged routes, the crowd of Kanwarias is expected to be concentrated around Haridwar and Rishikesh with 4,000 of them being registered at Haridwar on Tuesday.
According to the Rajaji field director SP Subudhi, though one bhandara has been permitted near the Mauni Baba Gufa on the route to Neelkanth, other such events are not being permitted. “If the people are so interested in hosting bhandaras, they can do so in Haridwar, Rishikesh or areas outside the national park. As most of the visitors are not from Uttarakhand, they are not familiar with the surroundings and situations. Who will be responsible in case of human-wildlife conflict or an incident like food poisoningIJ I have directed the Gohri range officer to employ about half a dozen daily wagers and form eco task force to monitor the Kanwarias passing through Rajaji and prevent them from acting in a manner which might either harm the environment or jeopardise their safety,” he said.
Sources said that pressure is being exerted from various quarters on the Rajaji administration to allow more bhandaras on the route passing through the national park.