Char Dham Yatra 2022: 20 Casualties In 6 Days, Unusually High Death Toll This Year
One of the country’s most anticipated pilgrimages, the Char Dham Yatra of Uttarakhand is witnessing an unusually high number of deaths this year.
Within six days of the onset, as many as 20 people have lost their lives during the pilgrimage, as per data released by the Uttarakhand Health Department.
The Char Dham Yatra 2022 began with opening of Gangotri and Yamunotri yatras on May 3, observed as Akshaya Tritiya. Kedarnath yatra kicked off on May 6 followed by Badrinath yatra from May 8. In 6 days of the opening of Gangotri dham and Yamunotri dham have seen a cumulative 14 deaths, with 10 of them at the latter, till Monday (May 9). Kedarnath has seen five pilgrim deaths in just 4 days of opening while one passed away during Badrinath Yatra.
Cause of deaths and reason for unusually high number
Most of the casualties of the devotees enroute to the places of pilgrimage have been due to heart-related issues and altitude sickness.
On the unusually high number of deaths at the Char Dham Yatra this year, Dr Pradeep Bhardwaj of Six Sigma Healthcare, which provides free medical facilities on the route of the pilgrimages said that people were coming to the high-altitude temples in vast numbers without taking up any acclimatisation before it.
“They are coming directly from low altitudes to places situated at 10,000-12,000 ft. How can they cope with such an abrupt climatic change? No medical check-up of pilgrims is being done this time before the start of the journey,” Bhardwaj told PTI.
“Compulsory health check of pilgrims is a must. Only those who are medically fit to undertake the high-altitude journey should be allowed to go ahead. We are ready to provide a health check facility for pilgrims. We have specialist doctors with us who can do it,” he added.
Another reason given for the high death toll, by an Uttarkashi official quoted by the agency, was that the rush at the Yatra is much more this time with no restrictions due to Covid-19. A daily pilgrim limit had been imposed by the state but it decided to remove any such restrictions after opposition by priests. No limits have led to packed hotels and dharamshalas with massive rush of pilgrims on the paths to the temples.