DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Wednesday went to Haridwar to greet pilgrims who had come to the state for the ongoing two-week kanwar yatra. At an event held in the morning at Om Ghat in Haridwar, the CM washed the feet of around a dozen kanwarias, garlanded them and handed them baskets containing ‘prasad’ and ‘gangajal’. Dhami is the first Uttarakhand CM to wash the feet of kanwarias.
“I see the image of lord Shiva in each devotee. We have kept aside a separate budget for the kanwar yatra. We will do all that we can to ensure that the kanwarias do not face any problem while in Uttarakhand,” the CM said.
Dhami thereafter held an aerial inspection of arrangements of the pilgrimage and planted a sapling at Dam Kothi, as part of the ongoing Harela festival, which is celebrated in the hill state at the advent of the monsoon season by planting trees. Meanwhile, tourism minister Satpal Maharaj said the state government plans to shower flower petals on kanwarias.
“Kanwar yatra is an arduous pilgrimage. We would like to shower petals on pilgrims as a mark of our respect for their devotion,” Maharaj said. Last year, on then- chief minister Tirath Singh Rawat’s directions, petals were showered on seers and pilgrims during the Kumbh Mela.
The kanwar yatra started on July 14. According to official estimates, over 28 lakh kanwarias thronged Haridwar on Wednesday and so far, around 75 lakh have visited the temple town as part of the pilgrimage.
