Kedarnath re-opening date 2021: Portals to open on 17 May
The doors of the world-famous Lord Kedarnath Dham will be re-opened on May 17 at 5 am for the devotees. This auspicious time was taken out on Maha Shivratri festival in the presence of priests and religious scholars. According to the tradition, every year on the occasion of Maha Shivaratri, the day of opening of the doors of Lord Kedarnath Dham is taken in the Panchkedar Onkareshwar Temple Ukhimath. Due to this tradition, Panchang Puja was performed after worshiping in the temple on Thursday morning. Lord Bhairavnath will be worshiped on 13th May in Ukhimath. Baba Kedar’s Deity Doli will first depart from Ukhimath and arrive for Phata for rest on 14 May. While the procession will arrive at Gaurikund on May 15 and Kedarnath Dham on May 16, where the doors of the Lord Kedarnath temple will be opened at five in the morning on May 17 amidst Havan Yajna, Bhajan Kirtan and religious programsorganized in the temple.
At the same time, the date of opening the doors of Badrinath Dham has also been fixed. The portals of Badrinath Dham in Chamoli district will be opened for devotees on 18 May. The doors of the dham will be opened at 4.15 am in the morning along with the vedic rituals. In the ceremony held in Narendranagar Rajdarbar on the occasion of Basant Panchami, the date of opening of the doors of Badrinath Dham has been decided. Whereas, the portals of Gangotri and Yamunotri open on the day of Akshaya Tritiya like every year. It is worth mentioning that last year Corona had a big impact on the Chardham Yatra. The total number of pilgrims who reached all the dhams was 4.48 lakhs. Whereas the same number was recorded at 34.10 lakhs the year before that. The annual revenue of 55 crores had been reduced to eight crores last year.
The situation of low number of pilgrims arriving in the Dham was seen most in Yamunotri Dham, the figure did not reach even ten thousand. Only eight thousand devotees arrived there last year. While 4.66 lakh devotees reached here the year before that. As the Corona restrictions were eased, pilgrims started visiting in a phase wise manner. In the first phase, only those within the district were approved. In the second phase, devotees from within the state were allowed through ePass. In the third phase, people from outside the state were approved with all conditions. Due to these restrictions and corona, the number of devotees remained limited.
