Dehradun, April 30 -- Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami stated that Uttarakhand is known not only as a sacred land (Devbhoomi) but also for its fragile ecological system, according to a statement released on Thursday.

"He appealed to all pilgrims visiting the state to avoid littering plastic waste or any other kind of garbage," it added.

"The Uttarakhand government is making every possible effort to protect the environment of pilgrimage sites, as well as the region's holy rivers and the Himalayan ecosystem. Continuous cleanliness drives are being carried out at the shrines and along the pilgrimage routes through municipal bodies and gram panchayats," it read out.

Notably, amid the surge of pilgrims at Kedarnath Temple, the...