DEHRADUN: A fresh analysis of the 2025 Char Dham Yatra has exposed critical vulnerabilities in the Himalayan pilgrimage circuit, revealing that a staggering 72% of annual footfall was crammed into the first 60 days of the season, putting immense pressure on fragile infrastructure.
The report, titled ‘Pathways to Pilgrimage: Data Insights, Challenges and Opportunities’, released by the Social Development for Communities (SDC) Foundation in Dehradun, highlights a severe imbalance in visitor distribution that threatens both pilgrim safety and environmental stability.
According to the study, which analyzed data over a 210-day period, the Yatra saw a total of 51,06,346 pilgrims in 2025—a 6.4% increase over 2024, though still lower than the record-breaking 56.16 lakh in 2023.
According to Anoop Nautiyal, founder of the SDC Foundation, the data reveals a stark seasonal imbalance: 34% of pilgrims arrived in the first 30 days, followed by another 38% in the next 30 days, with peak pressure in the second week of June when 5.47 lakh pilgrims flooded the routes in just seven days, while weather disruptions and the monsoon led to 86 days across the five shrines when footfall fell to zero.
“The data indicates that the pilgrimage is not distributed evenly across the season,” the report notes, pointing to 38 “zero-footfall” days in Yamunotri and 35 in Gangotri.
The SDC Foundation report raises alarm bells regarding helicopter operations along the Kedarnath route. During a six-week period, officials recorded five separate aviation incidents, two of which were fatal, claiming approximately 13 lives. The report singled out the incident near Gaurikund as a particularly concerning indicator of systemic failure.
Nautiyal further urged the government to move beyond celebrating numbers.