Haridwar: Char Dham Yatra offline registration began today, that is on Monday free of cost. This year, the Yatra will start on the occasion of the holy Akshaya Tritya that is on April 30. This year, the doors of the char dhams of Uttarakhand, Gangotri, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath Dham are going to open earlier than last year.
According to reports, last year as many as 11 lakh devotees had visited Badrinath. Similarly, 13.5 lakh devotees had visited Kedarnath. The offline registration for the Char Dham Yatra this year has started today that is on April 28. 20 free registration counters have been set up in Haridwar.
On the opening of the counters and the commencement of offline registration of the Yatra, the district tourism officer of Haridwar, Sushil Nautiyal toold ANI, “The offline registration facility for Char Dham Yatra has been started from today. We have provided 20 counters for the tourists, including separate counters for divyang, older people and foreign nationals.”
He further added, “Today is the first day of registration. Today’s limit of registration is 1000. It will be changed based on the instructions received from higher authorities.” Long serpentine queues of people was seen near the counters.
The Char Dham Yatra is one of the most significant Hindu pilgrimages, the Yatra includes visits to four sacred Himalayan shrines: Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath, and Badrinath. In Hindi, ‘char’ means four and ‘dham’ refers to religious destinations.
It is believed that one should complete the Char Dham Yatra in a clockwise direction. Hence, the pilgrimage begins at Yamunotri, proceeds to Gangotri, then to Kedarnath, and finally concludes at Badrinath. The journey can be completed by road or by air, with helicopter services also available. Some devotees undertake a Do Dham Yatra, a pilgrimage to two shrines: Kedarnath and Badrinath.
