AGENCY
NEW DELHI, Apr 10
In a first, the Uttarakhand government has made biometric recognition compulsory for offline registration for Char Dham. Until last year, this was through mobile-number-based authentication.
According to Joint Director, Tourism, Yogendra Kumar Gangwar, for online registrations, a registrant has to log in with his Aadhaar number, while those going for offline registrations will be registered on the spot.
“If you go to the counter, there will be an iris or fingerprint scanner if the Aadhaar card is not available. For foreign nationals, online registration is done once they enter their passport number and email ID. Till last year, we had an optional system where Aadhaar-based authentication was not mandatory,” he said, adding that additionally, the registrants also have to mention their medical history.
Sachin Kurve, the tourism secretary, said, “The online registration started on March 20. Those who cannot register online can always opt for on-the-spot registration. To avoid any hindrance at the location, we will tie up with tour operators and agents to ensure easy facilitation of registration for pilgrims as they can register when they check in at their hotels or places of accommodation”.
Till Wednesday, online registration through the portal and a mobile app has been completed by 15,33,885 registrants for the four Dhams and the Sikh pilgrimage site, Hemkund Sahib. Kedarnath Dham has the highest registrants at 5.19 lakh. Moreover, 20,792 vehicles have also been registered, along with 25,278 heli registrations.
So far, the highest registrations have been from Maharashtra with 2.57 lakh followed by Uttar Pradesh with 1.8 lakh registrants and Gujarat with 1.39 lakh.
Earlier, environmentalist Anoop Nautiyal had said that 19.6 lakh pilgrims of the total of 48 lakh last year — that is 41 percent of the total pilgrims — visited the Char Dham in the first month of the yatra. In July last year, the National Green Tribunal had asked the state government to ascertain the carrying capacity of Char Dham, and the Uttarakhand Pollution Control Board had tasked the Wildlife Institute of India to assess and submit a report within a year.
In 2023, the state government announced a cap on daily visitors to Char Dham, citing better crowd management and the sensitive ecology of the region as reasons.
For the Yamunotri shrine, the daily limit was set at 5,500 pilgrims; for Gangotri, 9,000; for Badrinath, 15,000; and for Kedarnath, 18,000. This was later rolled back days before the commencement of the pilgrimage season.
