On Monday, the Kedarnath shrine’s entrances were reopened under tight Covid-19 procedures. Devotees were given access to ‘darshan’ over the internet. Tirath Singh Rawat, the chief minister of Uttarakhand, expressed his joy at the Kedarnath Dham’s reopening and hoped for the people’s well-being.
Rawat tweeted, “The Kedarnath shrine was reopened today at 5am with all the rituals. I pray to Baba Kedarnath to keep everyone healthy.”
After a six-month closure, the portals of the four prominent shrines – Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri, and Yamunotri – are reopened every year between April and May. On ‘Brahmamuhurta’ at 4.15 a.m. on May 18, the Badrinath temple doors will reopen.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi performed the inaugural Rudrabhishek Puja in Kedarnath Dham, according to the Uttarakhand Department of Information and Public Relations (DIPR).
The Lord Kedarnath Temple’s doors were opened after the devotion. The shrine was decked out with 11 quintal flowers on this occasion.
The late opening of the temples for pilgrims, as well as restrictions such as the requirement of negative RT-PCR test results, a daily limit on the number of devotees visiting the shrines, and adherence to mask-wearing and social distance standards, had a significant impact on pilgrim visits.
In the meantime, due to the Covid-19 outbreak, the Chardham Yatra has been temporarily halted. Only rites are being performed, according to the Uttarakhand Department of Information and Public Relations (DIPR). No pilgrims are permitted.
So far, there have been 79,379 active Covid-19 cases in Uttarakhand, with 4,426 people dying as a result of the infection.
