Uttarakhand's famous pilgrimage of the Char Dham opened up in the first week of this month, attracting an unprecedented number of devotees. Kedarnath, one of the Char Dhams, also opened up on May 6 after staying shut for the winters. What is alarming is the fact that all the four prominent religious sites sit in ecologically sensitize zones in the hill state and experts have advised against humongous gatherings here.
Locals state that Kedargram, a hamlet of a village, has the capacity to accommodate 10,000 people in a day; in spite of its limited capacity, an alarming 20,000 people turned up at Gaurikund, one of the essential pitstops on the way to Kedarnath. Reportedly, authorities had to stop devotees at Gaurikund, and a number of visitors were reported to be jostling for hotels and other night stays.
