Badrinath-Kedarnath Temple Committee to provide insurance to devotees

The Badrinath-Kedarnath Temple Committee (BKTC) on Wednesday decided to provide insurance of one lakh rupees to the devotees in case of any kind of accident that happens with them on the temple premises of Chardham located in Uttarakhand.

As many as 91 pilgrims have already lost their lives during the course of the Char Dam Yatra since it began on May 3, the officials of the Yatra informed on May 27.

Uttarakhand Director-General (DG) of Health, Shailja Bhatt, had cited 'heart attack' as the primary reason behind the reported deaths.

The officials had also informed about the additional deployment of 169 doctors on the Chardham Yatra route.

Meawhile, twenty-six people, were killed and four others injured after the bus carrying pilgrims from Panna district in Madhya Pradesh fell into a deep gorge en route to the Yamunotri temple in Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand on June 5, according to officials.

Besides the driver and the helper, there were 28 passengers on board.

On May 30, a helicopter belonging to a private aviation company had an uncontrolled hard landing while landing at the Kedarnath helipad.

As per the Badrinath-Kedarnath Temple Committee on Sunday (June 12), over 19 lakhs devotees undertook the Char Dham Yatra, of which a total of 19,04,253 (nineteen lakh four thousand two hundred fifty-three) pilgrims had reached the Uttarakhand Chardham.

From May 8 to June 11 evening, 6,57,547 pilgrims had reached Badrinath Dham while 6,33,548 pilgrims had arrived at the Kedarnath Dham from May 6 to the evening of June 11.

The Uttarakhand government, on May 11, had announced its decision to increase the number of pilgrims by 1,000 each to Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath, and Badrinath. As many as 16,000 devotees can now visit Badrinath and 13,000 can have 'darshan' of the deity at Kedarnath Dham in a day whereas 8,000 and 5,000 pilgrims can visit Gangotri and Yamunotri Dham respectively in a day.

The doors of the Gangotri-Yamunotri Dham were opened on May 3 and the portals of Kedarnath and Badrinath were opened on May 6 and May 8 respectively.

This year, the registrations for Yatra have also observed a new record as more than 10 lakh pilgrims have registered.

(ANI)