Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 10: N. N. Vohra, Governor, visited Yatri Niwas at Bhagwati Nagar here last evening and took stock of the arrangements being made for the visiting Shri Amarnathji Yatris for this year’s Yatra which will commence simultaneously on both the Baltal and Chandanwari routes from June 20, 2013.
The Governor, accompanied by Atal Dulloo, Commissioner/Secretary, Tourism; Navin K. Choudhary, Principal Secretary to the Governor and the Chief Executive Officer of the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board; Pradeep Gupta, Divisional Commissioner, Jammu; Rajesh Kumar, Inspector General of Police, Jammu Zone; Shakeel A. Beig, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Jammu-Kathua Range; Ajeet Kumar Sahu, Deputy Commissioner, Jammu; Soujanya Sharma, Director Tourism, Jammu; and other senior officers of the various concerned departments, had a round of the Yatri Niwas complex and viewed the venues where various required facilities would be put in place for the Yatris.
Later, addressing a meeting of the officers in the Yatri complex, the Governor, who is the Chairman of the Shrine Board, stressed the high importance of ensuring the best possible arrangements for the stay and onward movement of the Yatris and particularly emphasized the need to make satisfactory arrangements in regard to water and power supply, sanitation, sewage disposal, medicare and transport. He desired that the Divisional Commissioner and the Tourism Department, and all other concerned agencies, would ensure that all the required arrangements for this year’s Yatra would be in place by June 20, 2013.
Following the presentation of the proposed plans, made by the Commissioner/Secretary Tourism Department, the Governor observed that wayside transit facilities, with all the required arrangements, from Lakhanpur to Banihal and from Banihal to the Nunwan and Baltal Base Camps should be arranged by June 20, 2013.
The Governor was briefed by Mr. Dulloo, Mr. Gupta and other concerned officers regarding the wayside transit camps being established in Kathua, Samba, Jammu and Udhampur districts and was assured that these will be in place well in advance before the commencement of Yatra-2013.
On this occasion, the CEO of the Board informed that registration of pilgrims for Shri Amarnathji Yatra had begun on March 18, 2013 for both Baltal and Chandanwari routes through 422 designated Bank Branches of Jammu & Kashmir Bank, State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, YES Bank and HDFC Bank spread all over the country.
Mr. Choudhary further informed that step-by-step procedure which the Yatris need to follow to register for the Yatra has been put on the Board’s website which also contains the application form and State-wise list of Bank Branches with complete addresses which the Yatris can approach for registering themselves for this year’s pilgrimage.
Meanwhile, to discuss various arrangements regarding annual Amarnath Yatra high level meeting was convened under the chairmanship of Divisional Commissioner Jammu Pardeep Gupta here today.
Chief Executive Officer Navin K Choudhary was also present in the meeting.
The Divisional Commissioner discussed various matters with Civil and Police administration with a view to ensuring timely arrangements for the ensuing Shri Amarnathji Yatra.
In the meeting all the aspects related to the commencement of Yatra, Yatra Registration, Accommodation/transport for Sadhus, Entry/toll Tax for buses/trucks at Lakhanpur, hoarding/banners, lodging facilities for yatries in Jammu province, boarding facilities, transportation of yatries, security arrangements, fixing of signboard, Communication Centre at Yatri Niwas, medical facility, mobile toilet vans, Tourist Information Centre were discussed threadbare besides issuing SIM cards to the Yatris for yatra days, traffic regulation, provisions for safe drinking water, power, sanitation/ cleanliness, both at Jammu base camp and districts enroute Yatra were also deliberated upon.
The arrangements for accommodation of the pilgrims along the Yatra route in the eventuality of any emergency were also taken up for review.
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