The portals of the Kedarnath Dham were opened for devotees at 8 am on Wednesday amid Vedic chants and traditional rituals.
Thousands of pilgrims gathered at the Himalayan shrine, decorated with 15 quintals of flowers, according to officials, to witness the ceremony as the air resonated with chants of “Har Har Mahadev”.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami attended the ceremony and performed the first ‘puja’ and reviewed the ongoing pilgrimage arrangements.
“We have streamlined the queue system to ensure that even the last person in line receives a smooth ‘darshan’,” the chief minister told the media. He noted that early batches of devotees completed their prayers within five minutes.
Dhami also urged pilgrims to support a “Green Yatra” by keeping the shrine area plastic-free.
The portals of Shri Badrinath Dham will open at 6.15 am on April 23. The shrines of Yamunotri and Gangotri had already opened for the season on April 19.
