Amid pilgrim rush, Ukhand faces littering concerns
Hindustan Times|May 16, 2022
MUSSOORIE: The higher reaches of the Himalayas in Uttarakhand have littered with garbage that lakhs of pilgrims throw while on the Char Dham pilgrimage, creating a new ecological danger, experts and activists said.
Ajay Ramola
Amid pilgrim rush, Ukhand faces littering concerns

In just 13 days since the pilgrimage began this year, over 500,000 pilgrims have visited the Char Dham shrines and another over a million are registered to visit. With the summer break expected in the plains after mid-May, the rush of tourists and pilgrims is expected to increase. Officials estimate more than a million people would visit the state, including the pilgrims, in the next few months.

During the Char Dham pilgrimage, a person on average generates a minimum 7-9 kg of waste, assuming she takes nine days to complete the journey to all four shrines, according to Anoop Nautiyal, founder of Dehradun-based Social Development Communities Foundation.

"Thousands of tonnes of waste is generated during the Char Dham yatra (pilgrimage) season by pilgrims, in addition to day-to-day waste generated by people living in these areas, and other tourists and travellers going for treks,” Nautiyal said. "There is no system to properly dispose of this waste."

This story is from the May 16, 2022 edition of Hindustan Times.

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This story is from the May 16, 2022 edition of Hindustan Times.

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