"About 6.5 lakh pilgrims visited Kedarnath, security, crowd management arrangements in place": Rudraprayag DM

Rudraprayag (Uttarakhand) [India], May 18 : The Kedarnath Yatra has reached its peak, with a massive influx of devotees arriving at Sonprayag, the first major halt, for darshan of Baba Kedar. Thousands of pilgrims are seen waiting for shuttle services, leading to long queues across the area.

District Magistrate Vishal Mishra said that around 6.5 lakh pilgrims have visited Shri Kedarnath Dham so far this season, with crowd pressure increasing due to the ongoing holiday period.

He said additional arrangements have been put in place to manage the rising footfall, including the appointment of a dedicated CO-rank officer and deployment of sector officers and SDMs for crowd control.

Speaking to ANI, DM Mishra said, "About 6.5 lakh people have visited Shri Kedarnath Dham pilgrimage so far and since there are holidays in May, the number of crowds is increasing and crowd pressure is also increasing. In such a situation, first of all, a dedicated CO rank officer has been appointed who will look after the entire crowd management; besides our sector officers, our SDM are also deployed there."

Mishra added that in cases of heavy congestion, devotees are being guided to travel on foot to prevent traffic jams and ensure smooth movement towards Gaurikund.

The District Magistrate also said that officials, including the RTO, CO and SDM, have been directed to conduct regular patrolling to ensure better crowd management, and further administrative support will be provided if required.

"Sometimes it happens that to control the crowd when there is an excessive crowd, we make them go on foot so that there is no long traffic jam and people are comfortable and we channelise the crowd on foot and send them to Gaurikund and some such cases have come to light in which videos of excessive crowds appeared for some time. such a situation arose when there was a lot of crowd, so in that we have directed our RTO and the CO and the SDM; all three will patrol in the morning and after this, if any other cooperation is needed from the administration, it will also be provided," he further said.

Meanwhile, heavy movement of pilgrims continues on the trekking route from Gaurikund to Kedarnath Dham.

Local residents have urged the administration to improve crowd management and increase the number of shuttle services so that devotees do not face inconvenience. However, the administration is continuously monitoring the situation to ensure smooth conduct of the yatra.

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