Make pilgrimages blessed experiences – The Economic Times

The Char Dham Yatra – comprising Puri, Rameswaram, Dwarka and Badrinath – which began on May 10, broke a record on Day 1. More than 29,000 pilgrims visited Kedarnath, part of the Chota Char Dham Yatra circuit, clogging the mountain roads for hours. Many pilgrims were forced to return to base even before starting their journey. Reacting to angry crowds, the Uttarakhand government said it’s looking at solutions and is planning to create a Dharmik Yatra Authority to regulate the yatra, which includes three other shrines, and other pilgrimages such as those in the Kanwar Yatra circuit.

While the government’s proposal is welcome, its past actions – or rather, inactions – raise concerns about its intentions. In 2023, CM Pushkar Singh Dhami, under pressure from priests and tour operators, rescinded his decision to impose a daily limit on the number of pilgrims just a day before it was to be operationalised. How Dhami plans to resist such lobbying again remains to be seen. Last year, the state constituted a committee to determine the carrying capacity of tourist towns (Kedarnath is not one of them). This study needs to be done in a time-bound manner.

Uttarakhand, like many other states, depends on tourism, providing options from trekking to religious tourism. To make the best use of its natural wealth, it must embark on long-term planning, including building climate-resilient infra, tourist management that takes into account the state’s fragile ecology and employment needs, and provide high-end tourist needs, especially for HNIs. States such as Kerala and Rajasthan have cracked the code somewhat by focusing on quality rather than quantity. Uttarakhand and others must follow suit. States will benefit from this pivot, as will India.