LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO- 3532
ANSWERED ON- 21/03/2025
INDIA-CHINA MEET ON MANSAROVAR YATRA
3532 SHRI BHARTRUHARI MAHTAB
SHRI BHOJRAJ NAG
SMT. SANJNA JATAV
SHRI YOGENDER CHANDOLIA
SHRI TEJASVI SURYA
Will the Minister of EXTERNAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state :-
a) the proposed timeline for resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra;
(b) the details of protocols likely to be implemented by the Government to ensure the safety of pilgrims of said yatra;
(c) the interregnum arrangements made by the Government to facilitate Mansarovar Yatra until the full resumption;
(d) whether the Government has reviewed the feasibility of resuming direct flight services between India and China and the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra on the occasion of completion of 75 years of diplomatic relations between India and China in the year, 2025; and
(e) if so, the details thereof along with the date by which the said direct flight services and the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra are likely to be resumed?
ANSWER
THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
(SHRI KIRTI VARDHAN SINGH)
(a) to (e) Government of India (GOI) organises the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra every year between June and September, through the two official routes of Lipulekh Pass (since 1981) in Uttarakhand and Nathu La Pass (since 2015) in Sikkim.
The Yatra has not taken place since 2020 following the COVID-19 outbreak and the subsequent non-renewal of Yatra arrangements by the Chinese Side.
The issues of resumption of Kailash Manasarovar Yatra and direct air services have been taken up in meetings between the two countries, including in the meetings of External Affairs Minister with his Chinese counterpart on the sidelines of G-20 Summit on 18 November 2024 in Rio de Janerio and on the sidelines of G-20 Foreign Ministers meeting on February 20-21, 2025 in Johannesburg, South Africa, in the 23rd meeting of the Special Representatives of India and China on the Boundary Question held on 18 December 2024 in Beijing, and in the meeting of Foreign Secretary with Vice Foreign Minister of China on 27 January 2025, in Beijing. The two sides decided, in these meetings, to resume the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra in the summer of 2025 and agreed, in principle, to resume direct air services between the two countries. Both sides are engaged on the terms and modalities of doing so.