Kedarnath 2026- An Epic Case of Administrative Failure
This was my 1st visit to kedarnath and that too a solo trip, I was travelling in search of peace and solitude to kedarnath.
I booked few tatkals, weather was pleasant and sunny,no rains ,I trekked for the first time on such steep and lovely trek,it was tiring but the feeling was wholesome.
Issue started from the moment I reached kedarnath dham.
1)I got to know from some of my room mates that one has to do reservation for darshan timings, however system was down and was about to restart at 7 pm so we got in 500 meter long queue for getting that token(god knows why) however there being no police, many pilgrims broke the queue and consequently formed 3 queues, interesting part comes here, for first 30 mins there was no single police there, so the pilgrims who were breaking queue got their reservations while I kept standing in queue ,unaware of such “system” for 1.5 hrs.
Finally I got my darshan reservation for 10-11 am., that registration and printed slip was useless and not at all referred/checked anywhere.
2)I came to know that some pilgrims were sitting in queue, almost 2 days prior to kapat opening (i wonder if they had their darshan reservations with them) so I got in queue by 6 am. Again to my surprise not a single police to maintain queue consisting of more than 2000 pilgrims, i literally moved 70 feet ahead in queue while waiting for 6 hrs. At the point where I was standing had the queue been managed properly, i would have got to see baba not later than 3 hrs,but alas, the mismanagement broke all my hopes.
3)Dilemma of VIP darshan- I was being informed from your website that VIP darshan will open on 25th, however when i got disappointed and went to main mandir parisar, to my surprise there was a long queue on VIP darshan line and they were allowed to go based on ITBP /DRFs mood and paradoxically,speaker kept on blurting that VIP darshan is off, so what was i suppose to do
4)pilgrims were jumping barricades and ITBP personnel if they saw were again escorting them outside ,however if they didn’t see, they would be able to get darshan in VIP line.
I got down without darshan and with a heart full of disappointment from your management.
Hope Kedarbaba summons me again but that time i wouldnt be giving heed to any of your “MANAGEMENT FIASCOS”.
Treat Pilgrims with some respect, the manner displayed by your management was utter insulting.