Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat on Wednesday said the Char Dham Yatra and Hemkund Sahib Yatra in the hill State was all set to start in May and further claimed that his Government had taken a series of measures to ensure a safe and enjoyable journey for all the pilgrims coming to the State.
Rawat was here in Chandigarh to invite the pilgrims from Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh to visit Uttarakhand for holy Chardham Yatra and Hemkund Sahib Yatra in Uttarakhand, which are set to start from May 2. “This time, we are giving special stress on connectivity, especially tele-connectivity. Mobile towers are being set up at every 15 km en-route for connectivity, besides taking up the help of GPS-based monitoring systems,” added Rawat.
Referring to the tragedy last year, he said 4,118 people were presumed dead and State Government had given Rs5 lakh per person as compensation to the families of deceased on ‘self assessment bases”.On total grant received, Rawat said they got Rs8,000 crore from Central Government (Rs7700 cr) and the public institutions, State Government’s (Rs300 cr.) as monetary help to compensate the affected people and development of the ruined area. Rawat admitted that the economy of the State had shattered due to the tragedy. “Yes, it affected our economy and now by resuming this Yatra, we expect, it would help revive our economy”, he said.
The Uttrakhand CM assured complete safety and enjoyable journey for all the pilgrims coming to the State for yatra this year.“Registration of every tourist or pilgrim is mandatory this time. We are allowing 1,000 people for Kedarnath in a day and 500 of them will be able to stay for night at Kedarnath in fabricated shelter homes or tents there, rest of them would stay in between the route,” added Rawat.
He said instructions have been issued to ensure that work on roads and infrastructure is ready by April 30. However the places of soil erosion on the bank of river may take some time to get repaired.For roadside amenities, he said, five base camps, 48 wayside amenities, seven ghats, twelve night shelters for the Chardham Yatra have been set up and all the departments of health sanitation, water, electricity among others have been asked to maintain all facilities during Chardham Yatra. State Government had also set up ‘State Disaster Response Team’ besides deputing ITBP and Governments’ own volunteers core to help pilgrims in any untoward incident during their Yatra, said Rawat.
For security, a special task force comprising of police and Nehru Institute of Mountaineering at Uttarkashi, has been set up for the Kedarnath route from Bhimbali under the district magistrate of Rudraprayag.