Police have registered four first information reports (FIRs) in connection with “misinformation, provocative social media content”, and vandalism of government property during the Kedarnath yatra in Uttarakhand.
The Char Dham Yatra commenced on Friday with the opening of the portals of Yamunotri, Gangotri and Kedarnath Dham on the occasion of Akshay Tritiya in the Garhwal Himalayas. In the first two days of the yatra, a total of 63,252 pilgrims have visited the shrine.
Kedarnath Sabha president Rajkumar Tiwari said some vloggers and YouTubers were spreading misleading information about facilities at the shrine, which could harm the image of the pilgrimage.
Rudraprayag superintendent of police (SP) Neeharika Tomar said action was initiated against individuals spreading misleading content related to the yatra through reels and videos.
“Our social media monitoring cell is conducting round-the-clock surveillance and has identified several posts circulating false and unverified information about arrangements and darshan at Kedarnath. Such content is misleading pilgrims and disrupting the pilgrimage. We have registered three FIRs against individuals who shared misleading and provocative content related to the yatra. Our investigation into the matter is underway,” she said.
Another FIR was registered in connection with vandalism of government property in the shrine area.
Unidentified people damaged public toilets installed across the Kedarnath Dham area, including near the helipad and horse halt points. “Five doors were vandalised at multiple locations, including the Kedarnath market area, behind the PWD office, near Punjab Sindh Bhawan, and at the base camp. Twelve water taps and around 60 cistern units were broken in different sectors of Kedarnath. On a complaint by Sulabh International supervisor Mintu Pathak, we have registered an FIR,” SP Tomar said.
Meanwhile, Rudraprayag district magistrate Vishal Mishra, SP Tomar and other senior officials conducted an inspection of facilities in the shrine area on Friday.
Officials also reviewed arrangements across the temple premises, Aastha Path and token counters, focusing on sanitation, drinking water, accommodation, toilets, food supply, security, and queue and crowd management systems.
During the visit, Mishra also interacted with pilgrims to gather feedback and assured them that all essential arrangements have been put in place to avoid inconvenience.
