Kanwar Yatra will not be held in Uttar Pradesh this year, according to the religious event’s organizers. The decision to postpone Kanwar Yatra in the wake of the COVID-19 epidemic comes only one day after the Supreme Court granted the Yogi Adityanath administration till Monday to rethink its decision to hold the religious festival. The Supreme Court had stated that it would give the state “one more chance to reconsider” before issuing instructions.
“Kanwar organizations have decided to cancel Kanwar Yatra in UP on the request of the UP government,” a state government official said.
During the initial wave of the Covid epidemic last year, the Kanwar Yatra was also canceled.
Every year, around 30 million Kanwariyas, or Lord Shiva worshippers from northern regions, walk or drive down in groups to Haridwar to take water from the Ganga and present it at Lord Shiva temples back home.
However, the imminent possibility of a third Covid wave, months after a catastrophic second wave that killed over 2.5 lakh people, has prompted the organizers to rethink their choice to host the holy gathering. According to scientists, overcrowding and a lack of social distance might exacerbate the pandemic.
