Entry of devotees banned inside Kedarnath Dham due to surge in pilgrim influx

The Badrinath Kedarnath temple committee on Tuesday prohibited the entry of pilgrims inside the sanctum sanctorum of the Kedarnath shrine due to surge in the number of devotees during “Pitr Paksha,” a period considered sacred by Hindus when the sun transits from the north to the south celestial sphere.

The retreating monsoon along with the Pitr Paksha period, both have contributed to the rise in the number of pilgrims in Kedarnath as well as Badrinath compared to the other two other major shrines under Char Dham yatra.

Ajendra Ajay, president of Badrinath Kedarnath temple committee (BKTC) said considering the huge rush of pilgrims we have imposed a ban on pilgrims entering the sanctum sanctorum of Kedarnath shrine.

“However, pilgrims are being allowed to enter the Sabha Mandap, the area near the sanctum sanctorum from where they can offer their prayers without any restrictions”, said Ajay.

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The ban on entering the sanctum sanctorum was imposed during a heavy rush of pilgrims experienced earlier in May so this is nothing new in temple history, the BKTC officials said.

The other reason is the retreating monsoon when the pilgrims visit the Char Dham shrines.

Manav Bhardwaj, a pilgrim from Gurugram who was in Rishikesh said, “As it is risky to travel during rainy season due to boulder falls and landslides, we opted for the September period to take to Char Dham yatra as there is likely to be less rainfall.”

The BKTC president however refuted claims that the entry of pilgrims is prohibited due to the ongoing gold plating exercise.

“The decision has nothing to do with the gold plating exercise being conducted in Kedarnath shrine and said that currently, the work of copper plating is going on inside sanctum sanctorum and after which the work for gold plating will begin”, he said.

Vinod Shukla, president of temple community Kedar Sabha in Kedarnath said, “The entry inside sanctum sanctorum has been banned due to heavy rush and as far as the issue of gold plating is considered, we are opposing it and also keeping guard at night so that no one tampers with the sanctum sanctorum.’

“We will oppose the gold plating exercise inside sanctum sanctorum in Kedarnath till the donor does not enter into talks with the priest community”, said Shukla.

A person from Maharashtra donated gold to the temple committee at Kedarnath, a member of the temple priest community said.

Around 3,33,479 pilgrims visited Char Dham and Hemkund Sahib shrines on Monday out of which 2,571 pilgrims visited Yamunotri, 3840 pilgrims visited Gangotri, 13597 visited Kedarnath and 12729 pilgrims visited Badrinath and 742 visited Hemkund Sahib.

According to the data released by the state’s emergency control centre, around 13,577 pilgrims visited the Kedarnath shrine till Monday evening.

So far, 12,18,144 pilgrims have visited the Kedarnath shrine since the opening of the portal this year.

The pilgrim rush was also seen in Badrinath shrine with 12,729 devotees visiting the shrine while 3,840 pilgrims visited Gangotri and 2,571 pilgrims visited Yamunotri till Monday evening taking the tally of the total number of pilgrims visiting all four shrines and Hemkund Sahib to 37,02,590 so far.