By the time you finish reading this, chances are someone planning the Char Dham Yatra is refreshing a webpage, scanning a WhatsApp forward, or tracking a Donald Trump tweet for cues on whether their yatra this summer will even go smoothly.

That is both the story and the statement about the Uttarakhand government.

People elect governments to reduce uncertainties in life. They believe they have outsourced chaos management to a responsible government that will take care of it. Poor, foolish citizens expect frameworks, clarity, predictability, and, above all, to be kept updated with information that aligns with ground reality. Not silence. Not ambiguity. And certainly not a “check the website daily” approach to something as sacred and logistically complex as the Char Dham Yatra for the common man.

Today, Uttarakhand is marked by confusion and guesswork in governance.

Three weeks before the Yatra begins, there is no clear, consistent communication. Will it proceed seamlessly? What are the contingency plans? How will infrastructure hold up under pressure? How does the war affect me? Are there clean, Western-style restrooms along the arduous 18 km trek to Kedarnath, which begins around 3 am? Silence.

Hotels and travel operators are hedging. Pilgrims are hesitant. Helicopter bookings, when they open on the 10th (as communicated), are expected to be as chaotic as railway reservations in 1985: blink, and you miss it. And the state’s advice? Keep........

© Free Press Journal