With the portals of Hemkund Sahib Gurudwara and the lakshman temple at lokpal in Chamoli district slated to start on Wednesday, the first lot of pilgrims proceeded from Govindghat towards the shrines on Tuesday.
The State authorities state that all the necessary arrangements have been made to facilitate a secure pilgrimage experience for the devotees. Such is the enthusiasm of pilgrims arriving here for the Hemkund Yatra, that if the Hemkund Sahib Gurudwara management is to be believed, this is the first time since the June 2013 disaster that such a large number of devotees have arrived here for the Hemkund Yatra.
While about 2000 persons undertaking this pilgrimage have already reached Ghangharia en route to the pilgrimage centre, a batch of about 1,500 pilgrims left from Govindghat on Tuesday.
The Hemkund Sahib Gurudwara Prabandhak, Sewa Singh stated that all the necessary arrangements had been made for the pilgrimage on which the first batch of more than 1,000 pilgrims started on Tuesday. Devotees in large numbers are reaching Ghangharia- the main halt on the pilgrimage to Hemkund Sahib.