Friday, 17 MAY 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
Considering the recent massive surge in the number of pilgrims within a week in the Char Dham Yatra in Uttarakhand, the Transport department has decided to issue a trip card only two days before the scheduled date of the journey. This change will be implemented from Friday midnight, the nodal officer of Char Dham Yatra and the regional transport officer (Administration) Sunil Sharma said. He said that the department was issuing trip cards before but the pilgrims and tourists started arriving in the State weeks before the given date which led to massive traffic jams on roads and heavy crowds on Char Dham sites. “Many people have been saying that several vehicles arriving in the Char Dham Yatra are not registered, which is not true. All the vehicles arriving here are registered but many arrived before the date of their trip as mentioned during the registration process. We are checking the registrations of all the commercial vehicles entering the State. The department has so far sent hundreds of vehicles back since the pilgrimage started in the State,” Sharma said. In order to prevent trips before the scheduled date, the department will now issue trip cards only two days before the journey’s date. “The applicants can apply for trip cards whenever they want but those will be issued only two days before the journey. The trip cards will be valid only for the duration mentioned in the trip cards. If they reach the State before the date, they will be sent back,” he added. The RTO also informed that the department held a meeting with tour operators on Thursday as per the recent order of the chief secretary Radha Raturi. “We instructed them to abide by rules on the routes and not to carry out trips without trip cards. We informed them that the authorities will take strict action against those found to be violating the rules,” he said. The deputy inspector general of police (Crime, Law and Order) and nodal officer of Traffic for Char Dham Yatra, P Renuka Devi also said that the police have also started sending vehicles back that were found to be travelling weeks before their scheduled journey. “We are giving relaxation to some pilgrims whose journey got delayed due to certain reasons. However, the police are strictly sending back people travelling weeks before their scheduled time,” she added.
