Magnanimous Government to Offer Free Chardham Tours to 25000 Elderly Couples

It is nearly a month since the magnanimous Uttarakhand Government made an announcement that it would offer free Chardham tours “Mere Bujurg Mere Teerth” to 25000 elderly couples above the age of 65 this year. The announcement was made by the Tourism and Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam Officials at a meeting on 25^th February. The Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Mr Harish Rawat emphasized that the announcement should not just be on paper but must actually be implemented. He further added that elderly couples must receive all facilities in terms of travel and accommodation and that the couples should be allowed the Yatra even if one of them is aged less than 65 years. The Minister went on to elaborate that a personal attendant to any couple aged above 70 would be eligible for a 50% concession on the tour cost. The offer is on a first-come-first-served basis.

Free Chardham Tours to Elderly Couples

There is a qualifier, however, in that, the announcement states that the tour will be to any of the four famous Chardhams. If this is so the offer serves very little purpose since the purpose of a yatra is to visit the four holy shrines of Badrinath, Kedarnath, Yamunotri and Gangotri and just offering a free tour to only one destination does not help couples save much on costs. The Government had earlier 2014 improved roads and facilities to make the yatra a smooth journey for devotees. It remains to be seen how many elderly couples will jump at the chance of a free yatra, even if it is to only one of the four holy destinations.

It must be remembered that Uttarakhand is in the Northernmost region of India and it involves considerable effort, time, and expense just to get to Haridwar or Rishikesh, the starting point of the yatra. For the economic disadvantages, the chance of being able to undertake the yatra for free is a godsend but only if all four destinations are included in the offer, which is a fair thing. If it is otherwise and the Government offers only one destination for free, many people with low budgets would rather abstain than take up the offer however attractive it may sound because they would still have to pay for visiting the other three destinations. People above 65 years of age find it difficult to walk and must necessarily hire ponies on the arduous climb that is involved at each stage. The well-to-do have the facility of taking helicopter rides but this is not affordable for people traveling on a low budget. Ultimately, what is likely to happen is that only the rich pilgrims will benefit.

A typical itinerary of the Yatra involves a start at Haridwar from where pilgrims travel to Barkot, about 184 kilometers away. From here they go on to Jankichatti at a distance of 45 kilometers, traveling by taxi or coach. From Jankichatti pilgrims have to travel on foot or take ponies to reach Yamunotri, the first leg. After that, they return to Barkot and then go on to Uttarkashi and Harsil and then walk to Gangotri, the second of the famous Chardhams. The third leg involves travel of 211 kilometers from Uttarkashi to Guptkashi from where it is a 14-kilometer trek to Kedarnath. After a darshan at the temple pilgrims return to Guptkashi and then make the next drive of 200 kilometers to Badrinath, the last leg of the tour after which they can go on to visit scenic destinations or return to Haridwar or Rishikesh. If the government offers only one destination for free, which one is that? There is no clarification on this in the news report. On the other hand, if all four destinations are covered in the free offer then the Government is doing a signal service to Hindu pilgrims and one only hopes that this is what they actually meant when they made the announcement. Let’s hope that this is so.

The Chief Minister flagged off the first such tour in which about 3000 senior citizens from 13 districts in the state became beneficiaries of the free yatra scheme. The inaugural batch included 26 senior citizens from Dehradun and Haridwar.  The pilgrimage season starts around the 24^th of  April.