Dampened enthusiasm for Kedarnath yatra as government preparations fall short

Kedarnath temple, the scene of a calamitous natural disaster last June, opened its doors to pilgrims this year on Sunday. Head priest Bhimashankar Ling Shivacharya Maharaj presided over the ceremony that began at dawn, accompanied by chanting of mantras and beating of drums.

The temple, which miraculously survived the flashfloods and mudslides last year, had been spruced up, and its doors given a fresh coat of paint. Garlands of marigold festooned its facade, as also the large Nandi bull in front of the temple and the large rock behind which, Kedarnath devotees believe, saved the temple from being swept away. As conch shells, chants of Har Har Mahadev, and recorded bhajans of Pandit Jasraj -- the Hindustani classical vocalist was to have sung live at the opening but stayed away -- rent the bitterly cold morning air of Kedarnath, the east gate of the temple was first opened and then the south gate.

Nearly 500-odd pilgrims had trudged 21km through a steep and uneven bridle path, covered for large stretches in snow, to be present at the shrine's opening. For many, like Ashish Sachdeva and Sumit Sharma from Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan, it was a matter of faith - the two come every year for on the opening and closing of Kedarnath temple. "We come to wake up Kedar baba and to send him to sleep," says Sharma, who'd come last year too on Diwali, when the temple had closed for winter after opening briefly for about a month after the disaster.

This year the Uttarakhand government has started biometric registration for Kedarnath pilgrims and nearly a thousand people had registered since May 1, when the process began. But only about one-third of these were pilgrims from other states, said the officials manning the registration counter at Guptakashi. The rest were all locals.
Clearly, last year's disaster had dimmed the fervour of all but the most devout of yatris. And though Bhimashankar Ling Shivacharya thanked the government "for making sure the yatra began on time this year" in a speech to the media, many yatris had misgivings. "We come every year and stay for a few days, visiting the temple for the morning puja and again for the evening aarti. But this year we're not staying; we'll go down immediately after darshan," says Malti Negi, a native of nearby Agustmuni town. "Where will we stay?"

With most of those hotels destroyed and damaged in the floods last year, the Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN) had arranged tents with sleeping bags for pilgrims to stay in which had been pitched in the open snow-covered fields of Kedar Valley. With temperatures reaching sub-zero in the night, and no toilet facilities nearby, many had a tough night. Women pilgrims were lodged in a hastily repaired hotel that had survived the floods, but here too facilities were less than basic. While the GMVN had made provisions for free food for pilgrims, there was no electricity for much of the night.

Rudraprayag district magistrate Raghav Langar, who has been camping in Kedarnath since May 1, sounded angry when asked about the poor infrastructure for pilgrims. "We have done what was humanly possible. The entire 10km from Rambara to Kedarnath was covered in snow until March 10, and work could begin only after that. These are opening glitches and work is going on on a war footing."
The pilgrims other grouse is that the new yatra route is much longer and steeper than the earlier one, with few public conveniences and no shops available on the way. Raghav Hegde who has come from Chitradurga district in Karnataka says, "There aren't even any sheds. What happens when it starts raining?"
Clearly though Kedarnath has opened, it won't be business as it used to be in earlier years. "We have decided not to allow any permanent structures to come up anywhere near the temple," says Langar. "There will be a clear area of around 50 metres or so of open space. Cutting local stones to build boundary walls will also be stopped. The government is yet to take a decision on this, but probably the valley is where the hotels and shops will come up." The government has already sought to regulate the yatra by capping the number of pilgrims allowed in a day to 500.

These measures have not gone down well with the priests who depend on the flow of tourists for a livelihood. "A temple's prestige depends on the number of pilgrims who come. I have yajmans (clients) who are ready with the money to build hotels and infrastructure, but they are afraid to come now."

For locals from the villages nearby, who used to have shops, hotels, or provide horses and other facilities, a limited yatra is not good news. "We survive on the money we earn in these six months. The government should do something," says Arjun, who runs a mule-transport service for pilgrims.