On Wednesday, The Uttarakhand Government has announced its decision to lift up the restrictions from Chaar Dhaam Yatra 2023. The High Court removed the restrictions which were imposed to maintain the daily limits on the number of devotees that can visit the Chaar Dhaams in Uttarakhand -Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri, and Yamunotri. Now the E-pass is no more mandatory for the visiting pilgrims in Uttarakhand. Only the pilgrims traveling from any other state will have to register on the Deharadun Smart City Portal. However, Every Pilgrim will still need to carry a Covid negative test report and the test should be conducted within the 72 hours of the visit to Char Dham Yatra. The visitors who have been vaccinated with the 2nd doze at least 15 days prior to the yatra, do not need any Covid negative report. They need to carry their vaccination certificate along with them as proof.

Earlier, The high court had put a restriction on the daily limits of the visiting devotees.  The HC had set the fixed limit o temple visits at 800 for Kedarnath, 1000 for Badrinath, 600 for Gangotri, and 400 for Yamunotri. Moreover Bathing in any associated reservoir or holy spring was also banned by the High court. 

The Uttarakhand State Government had filed an affidavit in the High Court asking for permission to increase the limit of the number of pilgrims visiting the Temples. The Uttakharand Government took their request into consideration and hence removed some restrictions for the Chaar Dhaam Yatra.