First batch of devotees leaves for Kailash Mansarovar

The first batch of pilgrims to Kailash Manasarovar in Tibet was flagged off on Friday by Minister of State for External Affairs Pabitra Margherita.

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The pilgrims were briefed on issues related to health and telecom connectivity, along with a list of do’s and don’ts that they should follow during the pilgrimage.

The Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Home Affairs, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, the state governments of Delhi, Uttarakhand and Sikkim and the National Informatics Centre are involved in conducting the yatra.

A total of 720 pilgrims have been selected for undertaking the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, which is resuming after five years.

Five batches of 48 devotees each are scheduled to travel through the Lipulekh Pass in Uttarakhand and another 10 batches of 48 pilgrims each will go via the Nathu La in Sikkim. Both routes are now fully motorable and involve very little trekking.

In January, India and China had agreed to resume the pilgrimage, which had not taken place since the Covid outbreak in 2020. Even after the pandemic, the Chinese side had not renewed the arrangements, leading to a five-year hiatus.

Located in Tibet, Mount Kailash and Mansarovar Lake are holy sites for the Hindus. This year, 5,384 people -- 3,898 males and 1,486 females — had applied for the pilgrimage. As many as 404 of these applicants are aged above 65 years.

Subsequently, the pilgrims were selected through a lucky draw — a computer-generated, random and gender-balanced selection process.