The apathy of the authorities towards facilitating employment for locals through use of locally available items is evident at the Gangotri and Yamunotri shrines where the consecrated offerings (Prasad) and the dishes they are sold are supplied from outside the State.
Coconuts supplied from south India, other Prasad items made in central India and plates made in north India are available for pilgrims visiting Gangotri and Yamunotri but locally available items have so far not been used for this purpose here.
Upla Taknaur, which is one of the major halts along the route to Gangotri, is also known for considerable cultivation of Ramdana (Amaranth). Ramdana is also considered suitable for making Prasad. Observers say that making and selling laddus of the locally available Ramdana at the temple premises can help the cultivators earn up to thrice the market value of the crop. Such a step can also encourage farmers to cultivate Amaranth. However, the authorities have remained apathetic to this opportunity.
Various Puja samagri items including incense could be manufactured from locally available herbs and forest products but this opportunity too has not been exploited yet. The State authorities and temple committee have remained apathetic to such possibilities. As a result, the various items supplied from the plains are being purchased by pilgrims at these two pilgrimage centres in the Himalayas.
Taknaur resident Ram Kishore was once a farmer but now works in a hotel. He says that he was forced to abandon farming as at times the weather proved detrimental and at times when the crop was good, the market prices were less. Had the authorities made a system to use local produce for making the Prasad in the shrines, many locals would have gained employment and farming would have picked up, he added.
It is worth mentioning here that though the State government avers that the Char Dham Yatra is one of the main sources of income for many people in the State, the State government has not yet done anything substantial to link farming and other trades with pilgrimage and tourism in the State.