Purohits of Badrinath Dham protested against the VIP Darshan culture demanding immediate stoppage to this practice
Pictures grabbed from the video ( Social Media)
The confrontation between the Purohits of Badrinath Kedarnath and the chairman of the Badrinath Kedarnath Temple Committee and the police has gained momentum today when the angered and badly infuriated Purohits staged a vociferous protest demonstration demanding immediate stop to the Darshan of the VIPs and VVIPs af the expanse of the pilgrims who are thronging in thousands everyday with increasing uncontrolled footfalls resulting in tremendous inconvenience to the visitors who stand in queues for hours together and are not able to pay their obeisance to Lord Badrinath and Kedarnath conveniently. The confrontation between the Purohits and the BKTC chairman Mr. Dwivedi commenced when some Purohits were not allowed to enter the temple by the police and even misbehaved with them.
A good number of Purohits were protesting against the VIP culture and out of turn Darshans in the Badrinath, Kedarnath shrines leading to stampede and inconvenience to the pilgrims standing in queues for hours together.
The agitating Purohits were raising slogans like VIP culture band karo – Band Karo, and BKTC mein vyapt bhrastachar ki jaanch karo etc etc .
The angered Purohits were also raising slogans against the alleged prevailing corruption in the BKTC demanding the removal of the police officer who misbehaved with the Purohits not allowing them to enter the Badrinath Temple premises.
In the past too, the Purohits have staged protest demonstrations against the prevailing mismanagement at the Char Dham and blamed the BKTC leadership tooth and nail.
It may be recalled that in view of the mounting heat at the pan India level , the footfalls at the Chardham have increased manifold this year.
During the last Char Dham Yatra season about 51 lakhs pilgrims and tourists have visited the four historical spiritual destinations with unaccounted number of buses, cars, vehicles, Max taxis etc following – leading to tremendous chaos and pollution including incidents of pick pocketing and lawlessness with the police in large numbers having their hard times to tackle the increasing crowds.
In Kedarnath till now about 8 lakh devotees have visited the shrine with 5.2 lakhs pilgrims visiting the Badrinath Dham. The two other Shrines Gangotri and Yamunotri have till now recorded the total footfalls of 6.5 lakh pilgrims.
