Rudraprayag: The doors for the annual Chardham Yatra 2023 in Uttarakhand will close on Nov 14 and 15 marking the end of the annual yatra, officials said on Tuesday. In Chardham, the doors of Gangotri Dham will be closed first. The doors of Yamunotri Dham will be closed the next day. After this, the doors of Baba Kedar will be closed on the occasion of Bhaiya Dooj festival.
Ultimately the doors of Badrinath Dham will also be closed for the devotees. Sources said that the doors of Gangotri Dham will be closed first on 14th November, Tuesday on the holy festival of Annakoot and Abhijeet Muhurta. The doors of Gangotri Dham will be closed at 11.45 am today during which period, formal puja will be performed.
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Later, the carriage of deity Ganga will leave for Mukhba for her winter stay. After the doors are closed for the night, there will be darshan of Ganga for then next six months. Likewise, the doors of Yamunotri Dham will be closed on 15th of November Wednesday. After the closure of the doors, the darshan of the Yamuna deity will be held in Kharsali.
On the morning of 15th November, the doors of Baba Kedarnath will also be closed for winter. After the doors are closed, Baba Kedar's darshan will be held in Ukhimath during winter season as per official sources. Heli services which operated during Kedarnath Dham Yatra will also discontinue from today. This year, record number of pilgrims reached Baba Kedar via heli services.
This year the Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority (UCADA) had given the responsibility of online heli tickets to IRCTC. On Monday, 1510 devotees had darshan of Baba Kedar in Kedarnath Dham, whereas till now, a total of 19,55,415 devotees have had darshan this year. Among the Chardhams, the doors of Badrinath Dham will finally be closed on 18th November.
With this, the Chardham Yatra for the year 2023 will come to an end.
