Despite the tall promises of the State Government to provide facilities to the Gangotri pilgrims, the devotees including locals and foreigners are facing inconvenience on the yatra routes.
The roads to the shrine are in a bad state with repairs being delayed due to rains and snow in the higher reaches. In addition, the neglect by authorities regarding important sites near Gangotri shrine is exacerbating the problems faced by pilgrims.
The bathing ghat along the Bhagirathi here was damaged in 2013 but has not been repaired yet by the authorities. The devotees face risk of injury to take a holy dip in the river here. As far as possible, most of the devotees visiting Gangotri also take a holy dip in the Bhagirathi river here.
A large number of people take a dip in the river along the roughly 1 km long Bhagirathi bank here. However, these ghats were damaged in 2013 and have not been repaired since then. With the route to the ghats not being repaired, the authorities have placed temporary wooden ladders to enable pilgrims to reach the ghat.
If the repair work is further delayed, the rising level of water in the river during the monsoon season could cause an avoidable mishap. Moreover, there are no safety measures like chains to help devotees take a dip in the river safely.
The authorities claim that they have engaged divers’ to tackle any untoward incident at important sites along the Char Dham circuit but at Gangotri there is no water police or diver in sight.
Sunny Goswamy from Assam said, “I have come with my family from far off to have a glimpse of mother Ganga and take a holy dip but due to bad state of bathing ghats, we could not convince ourselves to take a dip due to safety concerns.”
Another pilgrim, Sujjain Singh from Uttar Pradesh said that since the level of water in the river keeps on rising and ebbing, it is all the more necessary to ensure that the ghats are safe for the people.