Garhwal Range IG/DIG Sanjay Gunjyal presided over a meeting with police officers via video-conferencing and discussed the level of preparedness for the upcoming Char Dham Yatra in the State. Importantly, Gangotri-Yamunotri Dham’s portals will be opened on April 21 while the portals of Kedarnath Dham on April 24 and those of Badrinath Dham on April 26.
He directed the district police heads to assign duty to the policemen/police officers on Char Dham Yatra routes to ensure things were glitch-free. He further said that a copy of duty chart of policemen should be provided to the Range office soon. He said on Char Dham Yatra routes, around 70 temporary or permanent police post or police check-posts would be set up. Out of 70, SDRF personnel will be deployed at seven police posts on the yatra routes. On Badrinath and Kedarnath yatra routes, SDRF would be deployed at Sirobgar and lambagar, which are located in the landslide prone areas.
Rudraprayag, Chamoli and Uttar Kashi police officers were directed to deploy forces as per the schedule. A total of 150 SDRF personnel and around 500 police forces will be deployed on Char Dham Yatra routes to keep things in right places, he added. All the pilgrims will be provided alert messages on their mobile through SMS by the officials on duty.
During the pilgrims’ registration, the officials will record their names, mobile numbers and addresses among other relevant information. The officials will also update the pilgrims through SMSs about weather updates and change in traffic routes. Taking note of the pilgrims being over-charged by some shopkeepers, police officers have been directed to take action under police act. The district police officers have been directed to complete all the arrangements related to Char Dham Yatra on time, he added.