The government has started finalizing the preparations for the Chardham Yatra starting from April 30 in Uttarakhand. In this connection, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami reviewed the traffic management during the Chardham Yatra in a meeting held at the Secretariat on Tuesday. He directed that all arrangements should be completed one week before the start of the Yatra for a safe, smooth and well-organized journey. He also asked to monitor disaster-prone and high-altitude areas on the travel routes with the help of drones and ensure adequate arrangements of all necessary equipment at sensitive sites. The Chief Minister said that the police should work with a better action plan to face the challenges of traffic management during the Yatra. It should be ensured that the problems that came up last year are not repeated this time. Real-time information of places with jam conditions should be shared through internet media and other means. In this sequence, traffic and weather information should be regularly updated on the internet media handles of the police and administration. He said that such arrangements should be made so that the travellers can get information about the parking places from Google Map. The Chief Minister directed that parking on the travel routes should be done at such places which have hotels, dharamshalas, homestays and other basic facilities nearby. He instructed the officials to strengthen the alternative routes for the Chardham Yatra. He also instructed to contact the local residents on payment basis to develop temporary parking, install crush barriers as per the need on the travel routes, run a campaign for intensive checking of vehicles, pay attention to the fitness of vehicles and make adequate arrangements for signage for various information. The Chief Minister also emphasized on improving the slot management system for darshan in the Dhams. He urged the devotees to come on the Chardham Yatra only after registration. This arrangement has been made keeping in view the security and convenience.
He said that there is a provision of 60 percent online and 40 percent offline in registration. He also emphasized on continuous coordination with the stakeholders associated with the travel routes and taking their suggestions seriously for well-organized travel operations.
