Char Dham yatra underway with all four shrines now open

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami was present at the opening of all shrines. Kedarnath had opened on May 2, and Gangotri and Yamunotri were opened on April 30. The idols were taken from the winter seats and brought to these shrines.

Until Saturday evening, Yamunotri Dham saw 38,070 pilgrims and Gangotri witnessed 23,653. As for Kedarnath, 55,374 pilgrims have visited the shrine since its opening on Friday.

Each year, from May to November, lakhs of pilgrims visit these shrines. According to Uttarakhand government data, more than 48 lakh pilgrims visited the Char Dham last year, accounting for roughly 8.4% of Uttarakhand’s annual domestic tourist footfall. As many as 5.4 lakh vehicles also reached the Char Dham last year.

During the winter months, heavy snowfall leaves these shrines inaccessible and their gates are shut. The presiding deities of these temples are brought to shrines at lower altitudes. Mukhba in Uttarkashi is the winter seat of Gangotri Dham; Kharsali, also in Uttarkashi, is the winter seat of Yamunotri Dham; Kedarnath’s winter abode is the Omkareshwar temple in Rudraprayag’s Ukhimath; and Badrinath’s is at Pandukeshwar in Chamoli. These idols are moved back to the summer seats at the beginning of the yatra every year.

According to the tourism department, as of 1 pm on Sunday, 24.32 lakh people have registered online for the yatra. There have also been 84,268 offline registrations, which started on April 27 at various transit camps in Uttarakhand.

In 2023, while 74.61 lakh registrations were made, 31.28 lakh turned up, and in 2024, there were 65.73 lakh registrations and 48 lakh turned up.

Last year, environmentalists said that 19.6 lakh pilgrims, or 41%, visited the Char Dham in the first month of the yatra, relaying concerns on the carrying capacity of the region.

A fifth shrine, Hemkund Sahib, a popular religious site for Sikhs, will open on May 25.