Over 120 devotees have died so far of health-related problems in the past 45 days during this year’s Chardham Yatra in Uttarakhand, a lot of which is undertaken on foot and braving high altitudes and hostile weather.

At least 45 of these deaths have taken place between Gauchar town and Badrinath in Chamoli district, a particularly steep and cold journey.

Separately, over two dozen pilgrims have died in road accidents during the Yatra, which covers Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gagotri and Yamunotri.

Dr Abhishek Gupta, the chief medical officer of Chamoli district, has announced the installation of QR codes along the Yatra route for devotees to scan and seek doctors’ assistance.

“There are medical camps across the Yatra route for the devotees, but the medical screening of each and every pilgrim is not possible. Those in need must scan the QR code for medical assistance,” Gupta told reporters on Friday.

He said that over 54,000 devotees had undergone medical screening in Chamoli, of whom 28,000 were above the age of 50. “We airlifted six sick devotees and admitted them to hospitals in May,” the CMO added.

But many devotees have alleged that there are no facilities on the Yatra route. “The medical camps are actually small booths without doctors. The food is bad at the government facilities and the police misbehave with devotees,” said Abhijit Basu, a devotee from Asansol.

A video that has been viral on social media for two days shows policemen using batons and shoving devotees in Kedarnath.