• Three scholars tell the deeper purpose of a Yatra? Will ropeways, tradition and weather conditions enable round the year tourism even if the government’s intent is noble? What about environment impact? 

DRAFT.

Two PIB releases stated that the Central government approved making of two ropeways in Uttarakhand, to Kedarnath and Hemkund Sahib. Details below-

Table 1    General Information & Current status

Table 2 Proposed Ropeway Details

The Press Release for Hemkund Sahib states that the ropeway would take you to Ghangaria (10.5kms) from which one can visit Valley of Flowers (UNESCO World Heritage Site) i.e. 4kms away.

I visited Kedarnath and Hemkund Sahib in 1989, Kedarnath and Valley of Flowers in 2001. The GMVN site, as on 8/3/25 1.08pm, says best season to visit is July-August. A person from GMVN I spoke to now said August September is a good time to visit and flowers last for 15-25 days only. When we visited in early July did not see flowers at their best. To see my album  During monsoon months, maximum chances for landslides and heavy rains. 4 The Lake is Hemkund Sahib is frozen in the winters. During season of May to October none except the Gurdwara pehredar (caretaker) can spend the night there.

Thus, can Valley of Flowers be a round the year attraction?

Increasing the number of devotees/tourists sounds good. But what is the carrying capacity of Kedar Valley? Are we over-burdening these fragile Himalayan valleys? Source Note that Kedarnath and Hemkund Sahib are hill yatras unlike Prayagraj/Varanasi that are in the plains.

When a teerthsthan is connected by road and in a scenic location like Badrinath there is a surge in construction activity esp. hotels. To see List of Top Hotels in Badrinath

Kedarnath Mandir. App 12,000 feet. Pic Namrata W.

Gurudwara at Hemkund. App 15k feet. Lake freezes in winters.

What is the deeper meaning of Pilgrimage to Char Dham/Hemkund Sahib?

A yatra to these places is special because one has to undergo lots of difficulty to reach the destination unlike Badrinath that one can reach by car/bike/ SUV.

All along the trek devotees chant Har Har Mahadeo or Bole So Nihal Sat Sri Akal when they see other yatris. They distribute glucose and sweets to energise others. Feeling of sewa or service is high.

Reaching Kedarnath by a ropeway would be akin to doing to parikrama round Mount Kailash, abode of Lord Shiva in Tibet, in a car. The road to Lipulekh Pass in Kumaon, from where one gets a view of Kailash, cannot be compared to a ropeway because that road is first made for security reasons.

Enroute trek to Hemkund Sahib 2001. 

A spiritually evolved Atma from South India talks about the deeper purpose of a yatra. “There are two aspects to this, physical and internal.

Modern man is full of ego. He can’t come out of himself and his ego to surrender himself to God. Just like a vessel that is full has no Place for more water. Going on pilgrimages involves physical hardship. In that long journey your ego is broken down and your mind has time to pre occupy itself with God than yourself. In case you have noticed most temples are on hills. That is the last bit of effort to break your ego down and make place for blessings.

The internal aspect is that most yogis can create a sacred place within themselves. He makes his own body a temple and hence does not feel compelled to visit one. It is very difficult for the modern man to create a temple of purity within himself.

So he goes to sacred consecrated spaces created by others. After tearing down his ego, just praying and sitting down in such spaces affects his body and mind. Some amount of transformation can be accepted if the journey and prayers are made with the right sankalpa and intensity.” 

Govindghat 2001. 

A Kriyacharya from North India who has travelled to Garhwal writes, “In earlier times those who couldn’t make the pilgrimage to the higher Himalayan Dhaams would visit Hardwar and take the sacred dip in the Ganga and consider it their ultimate stop, at the doorway to Shiva. Only the determined would make their way by foot, by horse or carts, driven by an inner spiritual quest. 

They had few needs, would sleep in wayside dharamshalas, eat what was available, bathe in the river, use rudimentary toilets and invest many months to make it to their Isht dhaam leaving no footprint in nature.

Far cry from today, when the 'pilgrim' wants all the luxury of their daily lives in the pursuit of moksha, Star hotels, hot water, multi-cuisine, copter services and ropeways, spewing garbage everywhere they go, making this journey not a pilgrimage but a tourist destination. Their entitlement is taking away the sanctity and sacredness of what should be a pious and pure journey of a devotee. Not without consequences as we saw during the 2013 cloudburst in Uttarakhand. But it's business as usual again.” 

A resident of Devbhoomi and author writes, “The Devatās chose these unapproachable, vibrationally high spaces for a reason — they operate on subtle cosmic frequencies. Disrupting these sites with infrastructure, amplified noise, and high footfall tourism will rupture their daivika śakti. Once that happens, the Devatā will withdraw. What will remain is a hollow stone structure with no living presence — a temple without a deity. No amount of tourism revenue can bring back the lost śakti.

A Yātrā is not meant to be a weekend getaway. It is a metaphysical dissolution of the self. And the only valid way to reach Darśana is through effort, silence, and surrender-never through mechanical convenience. The mountains need stillness. The Devatās need peace. If we convert tīrthasthānas into amusement parks, we will destroy the very reason they exist. And once the Devatās withdraw — they do not return.” 

A ropeway will away take these deeper meanings and internal experiences.

Ropeways might encourage SUV Tourism

When I visited Hemkund Sahib in 1989 there was only a Gurdwara at Govindghat (starting point of trek i.e. on highway). Remember we slept in its balcony in our sleeping bags. By 2001 numerous hotels had come. Ditto at Ghagharia, 13kms away, where devotees camp and do a day trip to Hemkund.

Hotels at Govindghat. 2001. In 1989 there were no hotels. 

When I visited in 2001 a huge car park had come up at Govindghat. I saw many devotees drive in their cars/bikes/SUVs and park there. A ropeway would make going to Hemkund easier and faster means more tourists driving in from North/Central India. More vehicles mean more pollution. In 2025 the situation may be worse. During the 2013 flash floods nearly 200 cars parked at Govindghat were washed away.

8 Car Park Govindghat 2020.

Surely, there are better ways of generating employment. 

Kedarnath Ropeway 

If the intent is to promote year end tourism, the temple traditions would need to change.

In 2024 the temple remained open from May 10 to November 3. Source (temple closes two days after Diwali) During winters there is heavy snowfall because of which the temple remains closed and the murty is shifted to Ukhimath. Temperature in January could be between -1.6C and -12.4C Source

Will ropeway mean that temple remains open for twelve months and tradition of shifting murty to Ukhimath stop? Ropeway has to recover its cost!

Tourists who take the ropeway might miss the Vishwanath Temple at Guptakashi, Gauri Kund-Hot water springs and Temple at Gaurikund (dedicated to Goddess Gauri who did penance hear to win over Shivji). Later Shivji and Parvati got married at Triyuginarayan Temple i.e. 13 kms from here.  Gaurikund has number of hotels and dhabas all of whom will shut when the ropeway starts. A ropeway means devotees would need to take app a 8 km detour from Sonprayag to visit Gaurikund.

Walking Path near Kedarnath Dham.  

I spoke to a local, say Kedar, on proposed Kedarnath ropeway. Some insights-

Modiji’s intent of getting devotees round the year is good but perhaps he is unaware of the ground realities.

Given that trolley cars are to carry 18,000 devotees a day, this huge contract would most likely to be given to a foreign or a large Indian company. Local employment opportunities would be limited. In fact, the move might end up reducing employment opportunities instead.

Today the 16 kms trek from Gaurikund to Kedarnath is dotted with shops, tea restaurant which will shut down meaning fewer self-employed entrepreneurs.

Instead the waiting area of ropeways will have huge halls with shops (got on bidding) selling highly priced food like we see at airports today. Fewer locals shall get employment.

Helicopter emissions have damaged the Kedarghati environment and resulted in glacier melting.

Post starting of the helicopter service, devotees drive in straight from probably Rishikesh to Phata or Sersi (22 kms from Guptakashi), take the helicopter service and return the same day to Rishikesh. This is good for the Rishikesh but not the local economy because the tourist does not spend even a night in the Kedarnath region.

The terrain from Guptkashi to Kedarnath has more of meadows called Bugyals (high altitude grassland) than trees. To read about Bugyals of Uttarakhand   Trees hold the soil together. Further, the hills in region are thin means give away soon.

Read     A Call to Kedarnath by helicopter

Popular V logger and hotel owner, Priya Yogi Tiwari from Sonprayag said the pahadi boy who ran their food counter worked with them during season whilst rest of the time he worked in Bengaluru.

Hemkund Sahib Ropeway

Enroute Ghangaria to Hemkund passes through a glacier. 6 kms is very steep.

To see pics of glacier click here The place was discovered in 1930.

The trek from Govindghat (on highway) to Hemkund is 21 kms, till Ghangaria it is app 14 kms. According to local sources, there is kaccha road up to village Pulna on which local taxis/bikes ply, meaning effective trek is 17 kms/10 kms.

“Helicopter service is also operational during the yatra season (between May and October). It plies between Govindghat and Ghangaria.” Source n Here

Those who provide donkey/mule services and run small shops enroute shall have no income if the ropeway comes.

Kedarghati is Earthquake prone 

Kedar says that Kedarghati is in Zone 5 of India's earthquake risk zone map, which means it has a high risk of experiencing intense earthquakes. We saw the consequences of what happened in 2013. Have we forgotten the earthquakes of 1991 and 1999?

“In February 2021, a glacial burst on Rishi Ganga in Chamoli district claimed 204 lives and nearly swept away parts of a hydropower project being built on the river. In January this year, dangerous cracks developed in several building in Joshimath, the gateway town to the Badrinath shrine.” Hindustan Times

According to this New Indian Express report, “A recipient of the Padmashri award, Dr Anil P Joshi says that if the government does not regulate the construction of high-rise buildings and hydroelectric projects, it will surely pay a heavy price. ''Uttarakhand falls in the category of high seismic zone and a major earthquake will repeat. By regulating the construction in the hills, we can minimize the effects of earthquake.”

Vandana Sharma wrote in India Foundation on the 2013 disaster and thereafter, “The positioning of Kedarnath makes it extremely vulnerable to natural calamities. The Delhi-Haridwar ridge further adds fuel to fire and makes Uttarakhand in general and Kedarnath in particular a geographically sensitive region. The entire Kedarnatha region is prone to excessive rainfall.”  

A spiritually inclined mitra from Western India who did the Char Dham Yatra in 2006 wrote, “A little reminder from Aditya to cease idle chatter, stay focused and soon things started spinning in the right way again. Only if you have complete faith and surrender to the Force do you experience that the Universe spins the reality or perception that is right for you.” Ropeways will increase tourists and chatter.

Read   Noisy helicopters ruffle hill life around Kedarnath and Students/Wildlife hit by helicopter services in Uttarakhand

In 1995 I used a ropeway to visit the skiing resort of Auli ie. near Joshimath. It has slope distance of 3.96 kms and takes 20 minutes. 3 To see album

I hope the issue does not snowball into a major issue like the state government takeover of temples did before the last assembly polls. Development and Local concerns/Environment need to go hand in hand.

Also read

1. Char Dham Yatra was divine

2. Char Dham Yatra – A Seeker’s Journey through the Himalayas

3. Trek to Hemkund Sahib – good piece

4. Valley of Flowers is divine

5. 10 years of Kedarnath – lessons not learnt

6. Visit to Dhara Devi Mandir by Kriyacharya Jyoti