U’khand Govt mulls limiting number of Gaumukh visitors

DEHRADUN: : With disturbing reports about the rapid shrinking of Gangotri glacier over the years, Uttarakhand Government is contemplating measures to control the human presence in the highly ecologically sensitive region. The state administration proposes to limit the number of visitors to the fragile zone to 150 people on any day.

Environmentalists have already been pressing the authorities to restrict the number of people going towards Gaumukh, the origin place of Ganga river.

The state administration was worried following reports of a large number of people, particularly “kanwarias” travelling in their vehicles up to Gaumukh to carry Ganga water during the Hindu calendar month of “Sawan” as an offering for Shiv Temples back home.

While more than 20,000 “kanwarias” visited the core zone of Gangotri glacier in 2007, this number was 20,586 in 2006. A number of tourists also move up to Gaumukh during summer.

Perturbed by such a large number of pilgrims who were involved in running a community kitchen and leaving behind all kinds of garbage, forest department officials did not allow them to run their langar last year. Shanti Thakur, an activist of Uttarkashi, has been pleading with all including “kanwarias” to stop going to Gaumukh to save Ganga.

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