DEHRADUN: In a move to combat rising COVID-19 cases in Uttarakhand, district administration of Rudraprayag has made it mandatory for every pilgrim travelling to Kedarnath shrine to produce COVID-19 negative report within last 72-hours.
Till now, the report was mandatory for pilgrims who arrived from outside the state. Vandana Singh, district magistrate of Rudraprayag district said, "The COVID negative test report has been made mandatory for every pilgrim travelling to Holy Kedarnath shrine. The step has been taken to ensure safety from the ever expanding infection."
The directions in this regard are effective since Thursday. The district administration has also made the test mandatory for every person arriving in the district from any part of the country. Till this mid-week, total 29175 e-passes have been issued and over 15,000 pilgrims have travelled to Char Dham.
Last week, the state government issued SOP for pilgrims from outside the state for Char Dham Yatra.
The standard operating procedure for pilgrims visiting from outside the state include RT-PCR negative report conducted within 72 hrs of entering Uttarakhand and if they do not have the negative report, they must complete mandatory quarantine period of 14-days within Uttarakhand after entering the state.
Other conditions to visit the four revered shrines- Kedarnath, Badrinath, Yamunotri and Gangotri include need to register themselves and get an e-pass which will be valid for only two days. The duration can be increased in case of a natural calamity or accurance forcing the stay longer.
According to the standard operating procedure released by the board for travelling to Char Dham, no flower, offering or distribution of prasad is allowed in the four shrines due to the outbreak.
The state government has also put a limitation to the number of pilgrims visiting every shrine per day. The number of pilgrims has been fixed at 800 for Kedarnath, 1200 for Badrinath, 600 for Gangotri and 400 for Yamunotri shrine.
Last year, record more than 38 lakh pilgrims travelled to the four shrines of the hill state.