The Neelkanth Mahadev Shravan Mela will be held from July 22 to August 19.
With no ritual worship being conducted at Kadarnath and road links to various locations including Gangotri broken, the Neelkanth shrine in the Yamkeshwar block of Pauri district is expected to attract a large number of visitors. learning a lesson from the recent disaster, the authorities have made it mandatory for Kanwarias to register and eight registration points have been set on the routes used by the visitors.
Though the Pauri district administration claimed that all arrangements have been made for the Kanwaria mela, the pedestrian route is damaged near Mauni Baba Gufa due to the retaining wall sinking. Pauri District magistrate Chandresh Kumar said that this will be repaired within two days. This year the district administration has prohibited the sale of Prasad containing sugar or honey in the temple premises to avoid these items from attracting bees and wasps to the shrine.
The registration of Kanwarias has been made mandatory and registration points have been fixed at four points on pedestrian route and four on the motor road. A valid photo ID card is needed for the registration and no one will be allowed to travel to the shrine without registering. The registration points have been fixed at Gujjar Dera on the Barrage-Neelkanth road, lakshmanjhula taxi stand and Bagkhala taxi stand with verification points at Garudchatti and Pundrasu.
The registration will help the authorities ascertain the number of visitors and their identities. Apart from tight security arrangement on routes leading to the shrine, the authorities claim to have made all efforts to facilitate power, water and medical service to the visitors during this period.