Dhami takes stock of preparations for Chardham Yatra – 2024

The Uttarakhand Tribune Correspondent

Dehradun: Chief Minister (CM) Shri Pushkar Singh Dhami, while participating in the meeting organized at Secretariat Dehradun on Thursday regarding the preparations for Chardham Yatra – 2024, for the preparations and monitoring of the upcoming Chardham Yatra. He also gave instructions to form a committee. CM Dhami directed to appoint SP/Additional SP rank officer for smooth operation of traffic management in the Char Dhams and to work in mutual coordination among all the officers & departments. He said that the shortcomings & problems that have come to light in the past years’ journey should be removed this year by working through their experiences & planning. CCTV should be installed in entire pedestrian routes and sensitive areas. He said that along with the passengers, the interests of the local people should also be kept in mind. He said that live monitoring of all the four Dhams should be done from the government level & the disaster control room should be operated smoothly. CM Dhami said that information about bad weather forecast should reach the passengers on time. For this, arrangements should be made to send alert messages on the mobile phones of passengers. There should be regular cleaning of footpaths. Special cleanliness should be maintained in the toilets built on the yatra route. The number of toilets should also be increased on the yatra routes. He instructed to work on plastic-free Char Dham on mission mode. Even before the commencement of the Yatra, arrangements for 24-hour power supply should be ensured in all the four Dhams. Street lights should also be installed on pedestrian routes. Besides, smooth drinking water supply arrangements should be made on the yatra route. CM Dhami said that the Char Dham routes should be improved before the Yatra. The places where most of the roads are blocked should be identified and arrangements for JCB/machine etc. should be made. If any route is closed during the yatra, arrangements should be made to open it immediately. He gave instructions to assess the requirement of buses and taxis etc. for Chardham Yatra and make arrangements in advance. CM Dhami directed to expand health related arrangements on the yatra route soon. He said that along with the deployment of medical & requisite staff, arrangements should be made for life-saving medicines, equipment, portable oxygen cylinders & ambulances/air ambulances in temporary medical centers on the Chardham Yatra routes. He said that to prevent diseases caused by horses and mules, veterinarians should be deployed on walking routes. CM Dhami said that during the Yatra season, arrangements should be made for the deployment of SDRF, Police Force, Jal Police, Divers, Traffic Police at the Dhams and Yatra routes and also, wherever necessary, temporary police posts should also be established. He said that people/departments doing good work during the yatra will be honoured. During the meeting, Cabinet Minister Premchand Aggarwal, Chief Secretary Radha Raturi, BKTC President Ajendra Ajay, Principal Secretary RK Sudhashu, DGP Abhinav Kumar, Secretary Subhash Bagauli, District Officers of various districts through virtual medium, and officials were also present.