SC takes cognisance of UP govt's decision to allow ‘Kanwar Yatra’

The Supreme Court on Wednesday took suo motu cognisance of a ldquodisturbingrdquo news on Uttar Pradesh governments decision to allow Kanwar Yatra amidst the Covid19 pandemic and sought responses from the state as well as the Centre on the matterA bench headed by Justice R F Nariman referred to the statement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that not ldquoeven a bitrdquo of compromise can be made on Covid19 containment and said the citizens were ldquoperplexedrdquo about the happenings in view of the fact that as the UP government has allowed the religious yatra commencing from July 25It issued a notice to the Centre and the state governments of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand while posting the matter for hearing on FridayThe bench said that it read something ldquodisturbingrdquo that the state of UP has chosen to continue with the Kanwar yatra while Uttarakhand with its hindsight of experience has decided against itldquoWe wish to know what the stand of the respective governments isrdquo said the bench also comprising Justice B R GavaildquoThe citizens of India are completely perplexed They dont know what is going on And all this amid the Prime Minister when asked about a third wave of COVID striking the nation saying we cannot compromise even one bitldquoWe are issuing notice to the Centre UP and Uttarakhand and because the yatra is scheduled to leave from 25 July we want them to file an early response so that the matter can be heard on Friday the top court saidThe Yogi Adityanath government on Tuesday allowed the yatra from July 25 despite concerns raised in various quarters over the risk posed by such events in triggering a possible third wave of Covid19The UP Chief Minister has urged however that only a minimum number of people should participate in the annual Kanwar Yatra and directed strict implementation of the Covid19 protocolEvery year tens of thousands of ldquoKanwariyasrdquo devotees of Lord Shiva from northern states travel on foot or by other means to collect water from River Ganga at Haridwar to offer at Shiva temples in their areas as part of the yatraMeanwhile the Uttarakhand government has cancelled the Kanwar Yatra in view of a possible third waveChief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami had said that though Kanwar Yatra is part of Sanatan culture saving lives in the time of the pandemic was paramountThe fortnightlong yatra which begins with the onset of the month of Shravan by the Hindu calendar goes on till the first week of August and sees a large gathering of Kanwariyas in Haridwar from neighbouring states including Uttar Pradesh Haryana and Delhi to collect the holy waters of the GangaThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever