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Supreme Court bench of Justice R F Nariman took a suo motu cognizance of the Uttar Pradesh government’s decision to allow ‘Kanwar Yatra’.
The Top Court has issued a notice to the state government.
Supreme Court expresses concerns over the possible spread due to Kanwar Yatra event in the State.
It is reported that the Yogi Adityanath government has allowed the Kanwar yatra from July 25. As the expertes said, such event can trigger a possible third wave of COVID-19.
Officials appearing in Court said that in 2019, the last time the yatra was organised, nearly 3.5 crore 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.
It was mentioned in the Court that 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.