DEHRADUN, INDIA, November 18, 2015 (by Seema Sharma, Times of India): The portals of Badrinath temple were closed at 4 pm on Tuesday for the winter amid chants and hymns. Thousands were present on the occasion. Badrinath was the last of the Char Dham shrines to close for the winters after Gangotri, Kedarnath and Yamunotri shrines. Owing to the easy accessibility, Badrinath temple receives maximum pilgrims among all the Char Dhams in the state. The pilgrim number and the revenue generation has improved significantly for these dhams since the 2013 deluge as repairs and renovation at these sites began to gather momentum.
According to Harish Gaur, spokesperson of Badrinath-Kedarnath Mandir Smiti, this year, the number of pilgrims has been relatively heartening for the state government. Gaur said approximately 154,430 pilgrims visited Kedarnath and around 344,527 pilgrims made it to Badrinath this year. Around 9,000 international tourists visited the Dham this year while last year, this figure was 3,000. AK Dwivedi, additional director, Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board, said as the repairs, renovation and reconstruction began wherever disaster struck in 2013 at the Char Dham sites, washing away roads, bridges and buildings. Now, the sign of recovery is visible to pilgrims. Then a message regarding all the Char Dhams being safe was also widely promoted with full vigor nationwide which has shown good results this year.
