Overwhelming number of devotees visiting Kedarnath, ITBP deployed for management

New Delhi: As soon as the doors of the famous pilgrimage site Kedarnath was opened it saw a huge influx of devotees lining up for visitation to the holy temple. Kedarnath Temple is one of the Char Sham situated in the Devbhoomi Uttarakhand. The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) was deployed for the management of the crowd. Since the beginning of the yatra around 28 tourists have died who were en route to the Kedarnath Temple. 

The state government held a meeting over the management of the large numbers of the devotees. The meeting concluded with a notion that ITBP will help in regulating the crowd. Further, National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF) will be assisting the temples in handling the crowd as well. 

The official spokesperson of the ITBP, Vivek Kumar Pandey said, “ITBP has been managing the heavy rush to the Kedarnath temple and the Kedarnath valley”. He further added that ‘more than 20,000 devotees are visiting the temple daily and due to the pilgrims’ rush places such as Sonprayag, Ukhimath and Kedarnath are packed.

“It’s been a week since the portals of the temple were opened on May 6, 2022, and more than 1,30,000 pilgrims have so far visited the Kedarnath Temple,” Pandey added. The teams of ITBP here are deployed with the purpose of streamlining the influx of the ‘yatris’.

The ITBP is fully prepared with deployment of the medical teams with oxygen cylinder in the area. They have also had drills of evacuation and any other medical emergencies. The ITBP teams are also deployed at the Badrinath Temple too. The Char Dham Yatra is witnessing an overwhelming rush of devotees since this is the first time since the COVID19 pandemic hit that the authorities have allowed the pilgrims to visit the holy site for ‘darshan’.