The cave at the Kedarnath temple in Uttarakhand has witnessed an unprecedented hike in the number of devotees visiting it ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi meditated in the cave in the month of May this year after the Lok Sabha election campaign. The numbers of devotees logging into the Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN) website every day for online booking have increased manifold.
As per the information provided by GMVN Manager B L Rana, the meditation cave, also called ‘Dhyan Gufa‘ has been booked for the whole of July in advance and there are also advance bookings for various dates in the months of August, September, and October.
Looking at the increasing popularity of the Gufa after PM Modi’s visit, the district administration is planning three more caves in its vicinity. “We are planning to build three more such caves close to the existing one. In fact, work on one has already started and the sites for the other two on the surrounding hills have also been identified”, Rudraprayag DM, Mangesh Ghildiyal said.” The people started showing interest in the Gufa only after PM Modi meditated there though it has been in existence for around a year now, he said.
Apart from the Prime Minister’s visit, better facilities have also contributed to this historic rise in the number of devotees with 7,62,000 devotees having already visited the temple in fifty days this year. “The number of pilgrims visiting Kedarnath during the entire yatra season last year was 7,32,000. There are more than three months to go for the end of the yatra sometime in October, and we hope the number this time is all set to cross the 10 lakh mark. It will be the first time in the history of Kedarnath”, said Ghildiyal.
The photo of PM Modi meditating in the Dhyan Gufa wearing a saffron shawl had become a hit on the social media.