DM Chamoli chaired a meeting of Char Dham Yatra arrangements.

Chamoli: Sandeep Tiwari, District Magistrate Chamoli has discussed with all officials about the upcoming Char dham Yatra arrangements, and the police barricading installed in Pandukeshwar, management of shoes in the Dham, crowd management, issues of shopkeepers and health related issues of the passengers.

Rajesh Mehta, on behalf of the Hotel Association, said that the hotel owners suffer losses due to the Pandukeshwar police barricading, so the District Magistrate directed that there should be no checking of local people of Chamoli and passengers should be allowed to go ahead as per the hotel capacity.

To overcome the problem of piles of shoes in the Dham, along with making a shoe stand at Saket Tiraha, hotel owners were asked to provide cloth shoes or thick socks, along with this, shopkeepers should also ensure the place of the shoe stand so that unnecessary crowd does not gather at one place.

Giving information, BKTC CEO Vijay Thapliyal said that unnecessary crowd gathers due to more prasad shops near the temple, in such a situation, the District Magistrate directed that only those people who have been setting up shops for 25-30 years should be allowed to set up shops by the Nagar Panchayat and the Police Administration. It was also said that only one person from a family should set up a shop, the District Magistrate instructed to mark such points where permission to set up shops is not given.

He also said that video calling and taking photos inside the temple premises has been banned because it causes unnecessary crowd on the temple premises, a fine of Rs 5000 will be imposed on those doing so.

Traffic management and parking arrangements, Superintendent of Police Sarvesh Panwar informed that the Hotel Association should make arrangements for parking of booked vehicles, otherwise the hotel owners protest when challan is issued.