Chardham Yatra Ban: The Uttarakhand High Court on Monday stayed the state cabinet’s decision to start Chardham Yatra for local residents from July 1.
The Uttarakhand High Court on Monday overturned the state cabinet’s decision to start Chardham Yatra for local residents from July 1. Expressing dissatisfaction over the arrangements made by the state government for tourists and devotees during the Covid-19, a division bench of Chief Justice RS Chauhan and Justice Alok Kumar Verma stayed the decision of the state cabinet in Chamoli, Rudraprayag and Uttarkashi districts. The residents of the Himalayas were allowed to visit the Himalayan temples from July 1.
In a meeting of the state cabinet held on June 25 under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat, it was decided to allow the residents of the districts to visit the temples from July 1. Residents of Chamoli district were allowed to visit Badrinath, residents of Rudraprayag district to Kedarnath and residents of Uttarkashi district to visit Gangotri and Yamunotri temples.
Live telecast of rituals and ceremonies going on in temples across the country
The High Court put this stay during the hearing of a petition related to the risk in travel operations in the middle of pandemic. While repealing the standard operating procedure (SOP) issued by the state government for the travel, the higher court said it was the same as the one issued during the Kumbh Mela, completely the same copy of the previous failed SOP. The High Court, however, keeping in mind the sentiments attached to the holy places, asked the state government to make arrangements for live telecast of the rituals and ceremonies going on in the temples across the country.
On the objection of the state government that the broadcast of these rituals would not be correct due to religious reasons, the court said that it is sympathetic to the sentiments of the priests. The court, however, said, “Yet it should be kept in mind that when the scriptures were written, there was no such technology as television for broadcasting important events.”
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‘More important to save everyone from ‘Delta Plus’ form of Corona
High Court also said that in the present circumstances it is more important to protect everyone from the ‘Delta Plus‘ form of the corona virus and lower the sentiments regarding Chardham Yatra. The petitioner’s lawyer Dushyant Mainali told that now no one will be allowed to go for the journey. Uttarakhand Chief Secretary Om Prakash and Tourism Secretary Dilip Jawalkar appeared virtually in this hearing.
