PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/ Nainital
With Char Dham Yatra drawing near, the Uttarakhand High Court heard a public interest litigation (PIL) regarding frequent deaths of horses and mules during the annual pilgrimage. In order to address some of the concerns raised in the PIL, the division bench of Chief Justice Manoj Kumar Gupta and Justice Subhash Upadhyay asked the State government to implement the court’s previous directives and the SOPs issued by the Centre and the State government to facilitate a smooth pilgrimage by ensuring that animals and pilgrims traveling along the route do not face any difficulties.
The court also asked the State government to present its response to the allegations levelled in the petition before March 16 regarding how the pilgrimage could be made easier, more accessible and more environmentally friendly. The next hearing of the case is slated on March 16.
Notably, a petition had been filed by wildlife activists Gauri Maulekhi and Ajay Gautam, saying that with the annual pilgrimage about to start, no one seemed to be thinking about the health of the horses and mules that carry goods and devotees during the Yatra. They further alleged in the petition that if the mute animals were not working they were left to die along the route, damaging the environment therewith.
They had asked the HC’s intervention to ensure that the animals are not forced to work at night, loaded according to their capacity and allowed to make one round a day. Besides, their health should be checked daily during the pilgrimage before they start their journey with deployment of adequate numbers of veterinary experts and staff. The petitioners had further mentioned that over 600 horses/ mules had died so far during Char Dham Yatra due to which there is a danger of disease spreading in those areas they died in.
The petition had also stated that the number of pilgrims keeps increasing, triggering food and shelter problems for both animals and humans.
