Produced by: Manoj Kumar
Chota Char Dham draws more tourists than Mecca or Pompeii—but behind the holy glow lies a disaster-prone trail collapsing under its own weight.
This week, flash floods wiped out the Himalayan village of Dharali in seconds—an echo of Uttarakhand’s grim legacy where pilgrimage routes double as danger zones.
Glaciers feeding the sacred Ganges have shrunk 40% since pre-industrial times—turning sacred tributaries into ticking climate bombs.
With over 4 million annual visitors, this “spiritual” circuit is now a concrete highway lined with hotels, shops, and deforestation—fast-tracking the next disaster.
Last year alone, 246 pilgrims died on the Char Dham yatra. In one of India’s smallest states, disaster relief costs account for 10% of the national budget.
Ground fissures in Joshimath, a Char Dham gateway, made 1 in 5 buildings unlivable—another warning buried beneath the spiritual rush.
A melting glacier triggered floods in 2013, killing 6,000 near Kedarnath. The temple survived. Thousands of pilgrims didn’t.
The pilgrimage route was only made possible after India’s 1962 war with China. Now, Rs 86,000 crore of road and rail has turned isolated shrines into overbuilt risk zones.
Cut slopes, dumped debris, and illegal hotels are choking Uttarakhand’s river valleys. The state lost 0.8% of its forest cover in a decade. What’s next to fall?