June 18 revised date for Kailash Mansarovar Yatra via Sikkim

EOI, New Delhi, 20 Feb 2015: The Centre has decided to advance by two days Kailash Mansarovar Yatra through the new route via Nathula Pass in Sikkim. According to a PTI report, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Thursday said the Yatra would begin from June 18.

Earlier, the Sikkim government had announced that the Yatra would begin on June 20, crossing the Nathula Pass on June 21.

India and China had signed a bilateral agreement on the Nathula alternative route during Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit here in September last year.

The agreement provides for conducting the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra through Nathula in addition to the existing Lipulekh Pass in Uttarakhand.

"The yatra through the new route will commence on June 18, whereas the Lipulekh route will open on June 8," Swaraj said adding that a total of 18 batches with 60 members each will be sent via the old route while 5 batches of 50 members each will be sent via the Nathula route.

The route through Nathula will augment the capacity and reduce the hardship and journey time enabling many more pilgrims, in particular aged pilgrims, to undertake the Yatra.

The new route will be in addition to the Lipulekh pass in Uttarakhand through which the pilgrimage took place until last year.

The External Affairs Minister launched a dedicated website for the pilgrimage. The website -- kmy.gov.in – is a comprehensive repository of information pertaining to the yatra. She also launched a helpline -- 01124300655 -- equipped to take 10 calls simultaneously and to answer varied queries on the pilgrimage.

The route through Nathula will augment the capacity and reduce the hardship and journey time enabling many more pilgrims, in particular the elderly, to undertake the Yatra.

"Till last year yatris had to take a difficult terrain through the Lipulekh pass. Generally only young and strong people could avail that. But the route via Nathula pass is completely motorable so infirm people can just take a vehicle to reach there," Swaraj said.