Kanwar Yatra: After UP & Uttarakhand, Delhi Cancels Religious Event In View Of Covid Pandemic

New Delhi: In view of COVID-19, Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) has decided to cancel the organisation of the Kanwar Yatra in the national capital.

DDMA in an official order issued on Sunday said that no celebrations, processions or gatherings related to the yatra, scheduled from July 25, will be allowed in the national capital. 

“The Kanwar Yatra has been banned in Uttarakhand, but despite this, there is a risk of the spread of the virus due to crowding or taking out processions, in view of which this decision has been taken,” the official notice said. 

The move has come just a day after the Uttar Pradesh government banned the religious event on Saturday. The decision came after the Supreme Court said it cannot allow the Uttar Pradesh government to hold 100 per cent physical Kanwar Yatra in view of Covid. The court stressed that sentiments, including religious were subservient to the Right to Life.

Earlier, Uttarakhand government also called off the Kanwar Yatra amid fears expressed by experts of a possible third wave of Coronavirus and the risk posed by such gatherings.

The Kanwar Yatra was set to begin from July 25. During this religious event, Shiva devotees called kanwariyas’ from northern states including Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi travel on foot or by other means to collect water from River Ganga at Haridwar to offer it at Shiva temples in their areas.