Summary:
Dehradun: This year’s Char Dham Yatra witnessed the highest turnout in the past six years, with over 27.6 lakh pilgrims visiting the revered shrines in the Garhwal Himalayas. Officials at the Kedarnath shrine, too, termed this year’s yatra as the “most successful one in recent years”.Of the four dhams pilgrims visit as a part of the Char Dham yatra, Badrinath received the highest footfall of 10,35,019 this season. However, since the past couple of years, the numbers started rising and this year, the shrine was visited by a record number of pilgrims. In 2014, the shrine saw its worst turnout with only 40,832 pilgrims. This was followed by Kedarnath with 7,32,241 devotees, and Gangotri and Yamunotri with 4,47,585 and 3,94,394 pilgrims respectively.The portals of the Kedarnath and Yamunotri shrines were both closed on November 9, while the Gangotri temple’s portals closed a day prior to that..