Kailash Mansarovar Yatra to resume after 5 years

After remaining suspended for five successive years, the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra is set to resume this summer, the government announced in Parliament on Thursday.

Every year, the yatra took place between June and September through the two official routes of Lipulekh Pass (since 1981) in Uttarakhand and Nathu La Pass (since 2015) in Sikkim. It has not taken place since 2020, following the Covid outbreak and the subsequent non-renewal of yatra arrangements by the Chinese side.

In a written reply, Minister of State in Ministry of External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh said, the Indian side has taken up the issue of resumption of Kailash Mansarovar Yatra with the Chinese side in its diplomatic engagements, including in the meetings of External Affairs Minister with his Chinese counterpart on the sidelines of G-20 Summit on November 18, 2024, in Rio de Janeiro.

It added on the sidelines of G-20 Foreign Ministers meeting on February 20-21 in Johannesburg, South Africa, in the 23rd meeting of the Special Representatives of India and China on the Boundary Question held on December 18, 2024, in Beijing, and in the meeting of Foreign Secretary with Vice Foreign Minister of China on January 27 in Beijing.

The two sides decided, in these meetings, to resume the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra in the summer of 2025. Both sides are working on the terms and modalities of doing so, it added.