The State Government may be making strong claims about the arrangements for the Char Dham pilgrimage but the arrangements are not complete for the same till now. More than a fortnight has passed since the Char Dham Yatra began with the reopening of Gangotri and Yamunotri shrines in the Uttarkashi district, necessary arrangements are yet to be made at Yamunotri. The lack of proper facilities around the Yamunotri temple complex is causing inconvenience to the visitors arriving here from various parts of India and abroad.
The damaged safety railing near the Yamunotri temple gate has not yet been repaired. The safety railing along the main path to the temple is also broken. The broken railing has increased the risk of accident faced by pilgrims. Due to the damaged condition of this railing, a person is liable to fall off the road into a stream on losing balance which could lead to injuries or worse.
Though the authorities had started work on repairing this safety railing, delays in this work have prevented it from being completed so far even though the Yatra season has been underway for more than a fortnight. In addition to the problems around the temple complex the pilgrims are also facing inconvenience on the road to this shrine.
There is no proper public toilet along the highway to Yamunotri. The devotion of the pilgrims is making them ignore the travails but they still complain of the incomplete arrangements made by the authorities. Satvendra Singh a pilgrim who has come from Punjab to take a dip in the Yamuna river said that the State government should have completed all the arrangements before the resumption of the pilgrimage. Other pilgrims from various Indian States assert that better facilities should be provided to the visitors.
It is pertinent to mention here that though the State government has undertaken various works to ensure a safe and convenient Char Dham Yatra, incomplete works continue to pose problems to both the visitors and locals.