Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, June 11: Expressing resentment against the State Government for not maintaining the age-old tradition of Pratham Pooja before the start of Amarnath Yatra, the State unit of Hindustan Shiv Sena (HSS) demanded holding of Pratham Pooja in the holy cave shrine as per the tradition.
Briefing media persons here, HSS State president, Vikrant Kapoor informed that Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) every year organized Pratham Pooja before the commencement of annual Amarnath Yatra on Jyesht Purnima at Chandanwari on traditional Pahalgam route for the smooth conduct of the Amarnath Yatra to the holy cave shrine by ignoring the tradition existing for centuries together.
He said HSS has been time and again demanding that the pratham poojan be held at holy cave in accordance with tradition and last year a delegation of the Party had also called on SASB authorities demanding that the poojan should be held on Jyesht Purnima at holy cave. “At that time we were promised that next year the pratham poojan will be held in the holy cave,” he added.
“But to our utter surprise this year the Pratham Pooja was again held at Chandanwari which has hurt the sentiments of Hindus’’, he added.
Kapoor said the Amarnath Shrine is a sacred and holy shrine of Hindus. Thousands of Hindu devotees make an annual pilgrimage to the Amarnath cave by trekking challenging mountainous terrain to have Darshan of Shiv Lingam.
He while criticising the SASB for not maintaining the tradition said that it has been done for the relief of SASB officials. Despite availability of all men and machinery, why not the old tradition has been maintained, he asked?
He said if the Government has launched helicopter service for the pilgrims then why the officials of SASB should not use this service to perform the age-old tradition of Pratham Pooja in front of the holy cave.
Other present in the press conference were chairman SSH Sandeep Baghat ,general secretary. G I Singh, senior vice president Rajan Gupta ,joint secretary. Himanshu Gupta , Vishal Sharma , Ganesh Choudhary ,city president Rohit Sabharwal. City senior vice president Amit Podwal, and Anup Trikha.
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