Supreme Court issues notice to Yogi govt concerning news about Kanwar Yatra in UP:

The Supreme Court Wednesday took suo motu cognizance of a report in The Indian Express of the Uttar Pradesh government’s decision to allow ‘Kanwar Yatra’ and issued notice to the state government. A bench headed by Justice R F Nariman posted the matter for hearing on Friday.

“We read something disturbing in The Indian Express today that the state of UP has chosen to continue with the Kanwar yatra, while the state of Uttarakhand with its hindsight of experience, has said that there will be no Yatra,” Justice Nariman told the Solicitor General.

While the Yogi Adityanath government has allowed the yatra from July 25 despite concerns raised in various quarters over the risk posed by such events in triggering a possible third wave of COVID-19, the neighbouring Uttarakhand has suspended the kanwar yatra.

UP Additional Director General (ADG) Law and Order, Prashant Kumar, said that this year, the yatra will be held from July 25 to August 6.

Additional Chief Secretary (Information) Navneet Sehgal said a response to the court’s notice will be provided in the



given time. “As of now we have received information only through the media. Once the notice is received by concerned authorities, an answer will be sent. The government will take decision and guidelines will be issued in time. As of now, the stand of the government is that they have allowed Kanwar yatra in the state. The yatra is scheduled to begin on July 25 and there is still a lot of time,” he said.

Officials said that in 2019, the last time the yatra was organised, nearly 3.5 crore devotees (kanwariyas) had visited Haridwar while over 2-3 crore people had visited pilgrimage spots in Western UP.

As part of the yatra, kanwariyas trek up to or drive to ghats of the Ganga, and fill pitchers with water from the river before making the journey back to their towns and villages. While much of the traffic is usually headed to Haridwar, pilgrims also go to the UP districts of Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Bulandshahr, Hapur, Amroha, Shamli, Saharanpur, Agra, Aligarh, Bareilly, Kheri, Barabanki, Ayodhya, Varanasi, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Gorakhpur, Jhansi, Bhadohi, Mau, Sitapur, Mirzapur and Lucknow.