Kanwar Yatra 2021: Uttarakhand to send Gangajal via post to devotees amid COVID-19 crisis

Owning to the cancellation of Uttarakhand 2021 Kanwar Yatra due to the threat of COVID-19 infections, the state government has decided to send Gangajal via post to devotees. Kanwar Yatra is an annual pilgrimage of devotees of Lord Shiva to Hindu pilgrimage sites of Haridwar, Gaumukh, and Gangotri in Uttarakhand and Sultanganj in Bihar to fetch holy waters from River Ganga. 

On Wednesday, July 14, Haridwar District Magistrate, C Ravishankar, said, “We’ve started the process of sending Gangajal via post to devotees. We’re also planning to supply Gangajal in tankers & are in talks with the administration of neighbouring states to avoid a large number of gathering here".

Kanwar Yatra cancelled

The Uttarakhand's 2021 Kanwar Yatra scheduled to take place later in July was cancelled due to the COVID-19 situation in the state and the country.  

According to the report, the newly sworn-in Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami had a discussion with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister, and Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath about Kanwar Yatra. 

On July 13, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) wrote to Dhami and urged him to cancel the Kanwar Yatra citing a possible third COVID-19 wave. The IMA's state secretary stated, "We request you to disallow the proposed Kanwar Yatra in July-August, 2021, as the third wave of Covid pandemic is ready to knock on the doors of this country according to several specialists".

In a recent development, the Supreme Court took suo moto cognizance of the Uttar Pradesh government's decision to allow the Kanwar Yatra amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The SC bench headed by Justice RF Nariman said that it was disturbed by a newspaper report that stated Uttarakhand had barred the Yatra with its hindsight of experience. Referring to this, it issued notice to the UP and Uttarakhand governments besides the Centre and asked them to file an early response so that the matter can be heard on Friday, July 16.

COVID situation in Uttarakhand

Uttarakhand has reported a total of 3.41 lakh COVID cases with 3.33 lakh recoveries and 7,351 deaths. 

The state has administered a total of 50,24,460 COVID vaccine doses across 464 vaccination sites.

(Image credit: PTI/ANI)