Decision on kanwar yatra after talking to other states.

DEHRADUN: In his first visit to Delhi after taking over as Uttarakhand CM, Pushkar Singh Dhami met PM Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah on Saturday. Among the issues that were discussed were those pertaining to the holding of the Kanwar yatra as well as the Char Dham yatra. A cloud of uncertainty currently hangs over the conduct of the two yantras, which are major annual pilgrimages that are identified with Uttarakhand. Sources close to the CM confirmed that he held discussions with Modi and Shah over the yantras. Later, Dhami said that a decision would be taken on the Kanwar yatra after talking to the neighboring states of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, and Himachal Pradesh since most of the kanwarias come from these states. The UP government has already announced that it will allow the Kanwar yatra from July 25.

The yatra had been canceled by the Tirath Singh Rawat-led government in Uttarakhand late last month after a review of the Covid-19 situation indicated it would not be prudent to allow the pilgrimage. But after Dhami took charge as CM last week, UP CM Yogi Adityanath spoke to him regarding the possibility of allowing kanwarias to Haridwar to collect water from the Ganga. Dhami had thereafter called a meeting of senior officials and directed them to coordinate with neighboring states and discuss the logistics. This had led to speculations that the government is reconsidering its decision to cancel the yatra. Earlier Kanwar yatras have seen massive crowds of anything from 3 crores to 5 crore people converging at Haridwar. Incidentally, the Char Dham yatra has also been stayed by the Uttarakhand high court. The bench had said that the decision to allow local residents to visit Char Dham shrines amid the threat of a third wave and the new Delta-plus variant of the coronavirus would be akin to “inviting a calamity”. The state government has challenged the stay in the Supreme Court.

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