DEHRADUN: The Uttarakhand government expects over 50 lakh pilgrims to undertake the Char Dham Yatra this year. The number of pilgrims who undertook the yatra last year was 46 lakh.
Measures are afoot to install Doppler radars at Kedarghati in technical collaboration with the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) so that adverse weather information in the region can be had on time.
Yogendra Gangwar, joint director of the tourism department, told The New Indian Express, "There are only six days left for the start of this year's yatra. On average, 30,000 pilgrims are registering for the yatra on a daily basis. So far, more than 14.86 lakh pilgrims have registered for the pilgrimage".
The portals of Kedarnath Dham will open on April 25 and Badrinath Dham on April 27.
The Char Dham Yatra begins on April 22 with the opening of the portals of Gangotri and Yamunotri temples, creating more enthusiasm among devotees than last year.
"So far, the total number of registrations for Kedarnath Dham has crossed 527866, while 444785 for Badrinath Dham, 270187 pilgrims for Gangotri, and 236447 for Yamunotri had registered themselves till 4.30 pm on Sunday", added Joint Director Gangwar. The Chardham Yatra was disrupted in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid pandemic.
In October last year, a helicopter crashed in Kedar Valley due to bad weather claiming the lives of seven devotees, including the pilot.
"The weather in Kedarghati suddenly gets worse. In such a situation, the pilot does not have accurate information about the weather before flying. For this, an exercise is underway to install Doppler radars in Kedarghati with the technical support of IMD".
Speaking to The New Indian Express, Indian Meteorological Department Director Vikram Singh said, "With the installation of small Doppler radars, helicopter companies will be able to get accurate weather information to operate helicopter services", through which the operation of helicopter services will be stopped in adverse weather conditions. This will prevent any major accident".
"CCTV cameras are being installed in Kedarghati by Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority ( UCADA) to provide weather information for helicopter service operations," Civil Aviation Secretary Dilip Jawalkar told this correspondent. This will allow helicopter companies to get weather information. Talks are on with IMD for Doppler radar and technical know-how.
This time the administration will keep a close watch on the helicopter service operating for Kedarnath Yatra. Nine CCTV cameras will be installed around each helipad from Guptkashi to Kedarnath. CCTV cameras are being installed at Guptkashi, Barasu, Maikhanda, Phata, Shersi, Sonprayag, and Kedarnath helipads. On the other hand, CCTV cameras will also be installed at all helipads by UCADA, which will also be controlled by the district administration and the Dehradun office.
These cameras will monitor everything from helipads to passenger waiting rooms, ticket counters and helicopters. At the same time, 35 CCTV cameras will also be installed from Sonprayag to Kedarnath. The move comes in the wake of past experiences of complaints of ticket blackmailing during travel, misbehaviour with passengers by heli company management, and waiting for hours to several days for tickets.
