Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said that the Nanda Rajjat Yatra to be held in 2026 will be organized as a folk festival. This 280 km long journey will last for 20 days. In a meeting held at the State Secretariat on Friday, the Chief Minister reviewed the preparations for the Yatra. Said that there should be maximum participation of local people in the Yatra and the government should be in the role of a supporter. He directed to preserve the records related to Nanda Devi Rajjat Yatra. Said that the help of Garhwal and Kumaon universities should be taken for writing the records of the Yatra and their preservation. The Chief Minister said that this Yatra is the heritage of Uttarakhand. He directed the officials to widely publicize the Yatra in the country and abroad. Said that Nanda Devi Rajjat Yatra should also be taken to the whole world through Indian embassies. Also inspire them to join the Yatra. Said that the impression of the culture, tradition, costumes, musical instruments of Uttarakhand should be seen in the Yatra. For this, the Culture Department was instructed to prepare an action plan. Said that the department should make such arrangements for folk artists so that they get continuous payment. In the meeting, Tourism Minister Satpal Maharaj said that the journey will start from Nandastami of Bhadra Paksha in 2026. This is the journey of Maa Nanda from her maternal home to her in-laws’ house which is from Kasuwa located near Nauti to Homkund. MLA Anil Nautiyal, Bhupal Ram Tamta, Vice President Infrastructure Monitoring Development Council Vishwas Dabur, Chief Secretary Anand Bardhan, Principal Secretary RK Sudhansh and many other officials were present in the meeting.
Suggestions of stakeholders should also be included in the action plan
The CM asked the local public representatives and officials to meet with the stakeholders related to the journey and include their suggestions in the action plan. He said that the route of the journey is in the high Himalayan region and sensitive.
SOP will be made for crowd and disaster management
The CM directed to make SOP for better crowd management in the journey, disaster management from environmental point of view, ban on single-used plastic. Along with the Yatra route, instructions were given to ensure the marking and improvement of alternative routes, small parking lots in populated villages, drinking water, toilets, eco tent colony, beautification of ravines, electricity etc.
Temporary and permanent works of the Yatra route will start in a month
The CM said that better network arrangements should be ensured in the Yatra route. Identifying temporary and permanent works in the Yatra route, get government approval for permanent structures and start work within a month. Along with marking the landslide areas, the Disaster Department was also instructed to keep sufficient number of JCBs, Poklands as well as operators deployed on the route as per requirement.
