By Shishir Prashant 
PrashantNews
Despite a series of disasters striking Uttarakhand in August-September, the number of pilgrims visiting the Chardham yatra has crossed 50 lakhs mark this season.
In 2023, a record 56 lakh pilgrims had visited the Chardham yatra comprising the four temples – Badrinath, Kedarnath, Yamunotri and Gangotri in the Garhwal Himalayas. The figure also includes pilgrims visiting Hemkund shrine in Chamoli district. Last year, 48 lakh pilgrims visited the four shrines.
According to the latest official figures, 50,08,385 pilgrims have so far visited the Chardham shrines this season.
With the slight surge in the pilgrim footfall in the month of October, the chardham yatra picked up momentum in the last phase of the season. Nearly 5000 people are visiting Badrinath shrine a day on average in the past few days. The shrine will close on Nov 25.
Last week, the doors of Kedarnath were closed for the winter period but not before it recorded 17.68 lakh footfall this season followed by 15.62 lakh (till date) in Badrinath. Gangotri and Yamunotri shrines were also closed last week.
Since the Dharali disaster on Aug 5, the Chardham yatra took downward trend due to heavy flash floods and landslides that left big trail of death and destruction in the hill state particularly in the Garhwal region. After Dharali, Syanachatti, Tharali and many more disasters that struck the hill state in a span of 40 days, the chardham yatra was almost derailed. In the first week of September, the yatra remained suspended for four days due to IMD’s warning of bad weather conditions.
The yatra started gaining momentum in the last week of Sept. On Sept 28, nearly 14,408 pilgrims had visited the four shrines. On Oct 4, a total of 22918 pilgrims visited the Chardham. The trend continued till date.
Significantly, 41.61 lakh pilgrims had visited the Chardham shrines till August 4, a day before the Dharali disaster. This means, on average, nearly 44,000 pilgrims visited per day in the first three months (May, June and July). But in the last three months (Aug, Sept and Oct), only 10,000 pilgrims visited the four shrines a day on average.