The trek to Gaumukh in Gangotri national park was reopened for the public on Tuesday after being kept closed to visitors for four days due to inclement weather.
The national park officials say that necessary measures are being taken to ensure that the number of visitors to Gaumukh does not exceed the limit of 150 persons a day and to check that the visitors do not leave any waste in this ecologically sensitive area.With Kanwadias arriving in Uttarakhand to collect water from the Ganga during the ongoing Shravan month, many of the Shiva devotees also travel to Gaumukh.
However, during the last four days, the Kanwadias and other visitors were returning back after collecting water from the Bhagirathi in Gangotri.According to the Tehri Dam-I divisional forest officer Shrawan Kumar who is handling the additional charge of the Gangotri national park deputy director, the trek to Gaumukh had been kept closed to the public for four days due to inclement weather increasing the risk to trekkers passing through precarious routes to Gaumukh.
"With the weather improving the trek to Gaumukh was reopened to the the public on Tuesday and we are also enforcing the limit of 150 persons to this site in a day. As far as old clothes and other waste dumped by Kanwadias at Gaumukh in the past are concerned, we note the items taken by travelers to Gaumukh at the entry point and then check these again during their exit to ensure that they do not dump any waste at Gaumukh," he said.According to officials, since May 15 this year, more than 4,000 persons have visited Gaumukh so far.
The bulk of the visitors are Indians while about 475 foreigners have also visited Gaumukh so far this year. Sources state that the condition of the trek route at Devdhung, Bhujgadhi and Chidwasa poses some risk to trekkers, but the situation is expected to improve after the monsoon.