File photo
DEHRADUN: Former Uttarakhand chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, in an exclusive interview to on Monday, dismissed recent reports that alleged it was the displeasure of the seer community that precipitated his removal as CM, bringing in Tirath Singh Rawat in his place.
There has been swirling talk of late that it was because Trivendra Rawat wanted to go ahead with a symbolic Maha Kumbh in view of the Covid-19 threat that he fell foul of the sadhu samaj, who in turn put pressure for his ouster. I don t think the akhadas were displeased with me, he said. The seers understood the urgency of the pandemic and were ready to go ahead with whatever format of Kumbh the situation allowed.
Speaking to mediapersons, CM Rawat said that the Char Dham shrines will open as per their announced dates although no pilgrims will be allowed in the temples.
DEHRADUN: The Uttarakhand government on Thursday announced that in view of the Covid-19 pandemic, it was suspending the Char Dham Yatra to the four Himalayan shrines of Gangotri, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath.
The yatra was scheduled to begin next month.
The announcement was made by chief minister Tirath Singh Rawat a day after the Uttarakhand high court reprimanded the state for holding Kumbh and becoming a ‘laughing stock’. The division bench of Chief Justice RS Chauhan and Justice Alok Kumar Verma had also made the oral observation that the prospect of conducting the Char Dham Yatra in the midst of a raging pandemic is “a frightening one”.
ISSUE DATE: May 3, 2021
UPDATED: April 23, 2021 21:02 IST
SUPER SPREADER: Devotees at a ghat in Haridwar during a shahi snan on April 12
As the day of the last shahi snan (royal bath) of the Haridwar Mahakumbh Mela approaches on April 27, the crowds in Haridwar have thinned quite dramatically. Following the surge in Covid-19 cases, several akhadas (congregations) of seers have departed the festival grounds. For instance, of the 13 Bairagi akhadas, for whom the last shahi snan day is considered most significant, only six remain on site.
By April 18, about 80 seers at various ashrams had tested positive for Covid-19. On April 14, Swami Kapil Dev, the mahamandaleshwar of Madhya Pradesh’s Maha Nirvani Akhada, succumbed to Covid-19. Mahant Narendra Giri, president of the Akhil Bharatiya Akhada Parishad, has been admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Rishikesh. VHP working president Alok Kumar has also tested positive. Between the Maha Shivratri snan on March 11
Kautilya Singh & Ishita Mishra | TNN
Dehradun: At the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s margdarshak mandal meeting at Haridwar, chief minister Tirath Singh Rawat on Friday said that the Uttrakhand government would denotify 51 temples, including Char Dham ones, from the Char Dham Devasthanam Board Act, giving control of the shrines back to priests from the hands of bureaucrats.
Repeating his promises to ‘teerth purohits’ (priests of the shrines) who had been agitating against the Devasthanam Board Act introduced by the Trivendra Rawat government which brought the shrines under the control of the state government the CM said that his government would now review the Act.
Control of Uttarakhand shrines to go back from babus to priests: CM at VHP meet | India News indiatimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from indiatimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.