Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, June 30: All arrangements are in place for 48 day long holy Amarnath Yatra which will start from Amarnath Yatri Niwas, Bhagwati Nagar here tomorrow morning under tight security arrangements.
The Yatra will be flagged off by Deputy Chief Minister, Dr Nirmal Singh who will be accompanied by Minister of State for Tourism, Education and Culture Priya Sethi and other civil and police officers on the occasion.
The 48 day long yatra will culminate on August 18 the day coinciding with Raksha Bandhan and Shravan Purnima. There is a lot of enthusiasm among the pilgrims and their morale is high.
The authorities have made elaborate arrangements for boarding and lodging of yatris in Jammu and other parts of the State. The Yatra leaving from Jammu tomorrow morning will reach the base camps of Nunwan Pahalgam in South Kashmir district of Anantnag and Baltal in Central Kashmir district of Ganderbal in the evening where from 15,000 pilgrims 7500 from each track will be allowed daily for darshan from July 2.
In view of recent attacks of militants on security forces and J&K Police in Kashmir valley the authorities have made elaborate security arrangements for the pilgrims right from Lakhanpur to holy cave to ensure safety and security of the yatris.
A big contingent of CRPF, local police and security men have been deployed at Yatri Niwas Bhagwati Nagar to maintain round the clock vigil and every body entering there has to pass various security checks.
CRPF, local police and security men have also been deployed in adequate numbers at Jammu Haat, Vaishnavi Dham and Saraswati Dham near Railway Station for security of pilgrims and to avert any untoward incident.
All the routes leading to NHW from border areas have been plugged and extra vigil is being maintained particularly during the wee hours. IG Jammu, Danesh Rana is personally monitoring the security arrangements. The joint nakas and patrolling by CRPF and local police will be made on entire NH right from Lakhanpur to Banihal and directives were already issued by IGP Jammu to all concerned district SSPs in this regard.
When contacted, Rana told Excelsior that adequate number of para military forces, local police have been deployed on yatra routes and the borders have been plugged to ensure proper security for yatris. He said Army has also been deployed to coordinate with CRPF and local police to ensure fool proof security of the pilgrims and Road Opening Party (ROP) will lead the cavalcade of pilgrims as usual.
He said elaborate arrangements of security for the pilgrims were made at langars and other apartments where they will be sitting right from Lakhanpur to Banihal.
Meanwhile, a large number of yatris have started reaching Jammu from different parts of country through various modes of transport including railways.
There is a huge rush of pilgrims at Vaishnavi Dham and Saraswati Dham while hundreds of pilgrims have also reached the Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas to leave for holy cave early morning tomorrow.
The yatris were seen in large queues waiting for their registration at Saraswati Dham, Vaishnavi Dham at Railway Station as well as Jammu Haat. However, pilgrims reaching here have expressed their dismay over the poor arrangements especially at registration counters.
Accusing the authorities and Government the pilgrims said that they have to remain in long queues standing for hours together under open sky for their registration and there are no proper arrangements of drinking water at registration counters.
A group of 22 pilgrims who had come from Bhopal said only 15 members of their group were registered while others were asked to wait for some days.
This is total highhandedness that authorities have denied registration to one third members of their group, said the group head Ramesh Sagar. He said we will wait for four days or more but will not return without performing darshan at holy cave.
Some pilgrims were so critical of the poor arrangements at base camp of Jammu and said that equal type of arrangements be made at Jammu which are being made for the pilgrims at Pahalgam or Baltal in Kashmir valley. They said “what is the difference when pilgrims face problems during BJP rule in J&K’’ and appealed the BJP leadership to look into the same.
To review the security arrangements for Amarnath pilgrims IGP,Jammu Zone, Danesh Rana, today visited districts of Kathua and Samba.
Rana was accompanied by Neeva Jain-IPS, SSP Kathua and Joginder Singh SSP Samba and other supervisory officer of the district during his visit.
Keeping in view the present security scenario and inputs received from various agencies, IGP Jammu Zone personally reviewed the police/security arrangements made at Reception Centre Lakhanpur and at sites where langars have been established at different locations at Narsingh Temple Ghagwal, Nonatha Ashram Ghagwal, Chichi Mata Temple Samba and Tarore etc. During his visit IGP Jammu inspected two langars in district Kathua and nine langars in district Samba. He also interacted with the yatris at Lakhanpur, who have already started pouring in. He stressed upon the supervisory officers and manpower of CAPF/Police deployed for the purpose at various locations to maintain utmost alertness round the clock to foil the nefarious designs of anti-national elements and their mentors from across the IB so that Yatris feel secured during 48 days Amar Nath Ji Yatra.
He also stressed upon the officers accompanying him that all routes leading to NHW from border areas be plugged and extra vigil be maintained particularly in the wee hours.
IGP also stressed upon the District SSPs Samba, Kathua and Jammu to lay Joint Nakas/patrolling on all the infiltration routes. Night Patrolling on National Highway be conducted and a close liaison be maintained with all forces deployed in their respective areas. A proper co-ordination be maintained among all the intelligence agencies, Army, PMF, Traffic and Security Wing in their respective districts for smooth and incident free Yatra.
He also directed the officers to tie up with the civil administration to maintain hygiene and sanitation at the langar and camping sites.
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