Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Aug 6: Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board met here today under the chairmanship of N. N. Vohra, Governor, who is Chairman of the Board, and undertook item-wise review of all aspects of the ongoing Yatra. The Board expressed satisfaction over the tremendous improvements brought about in the management of the pilgrimage under the Governor’s sustained direction and lauded the continuing initiatives being taken for the environmental protection of the Yatra area.
Those present in the meeting included the Board Members, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Pt. Bhajan Sopori, Justice (Retd) G. D. Sharma, Dr. (Prof.) Ved Kumari Ghai, Sunita Narain and Vijay Dhar. Besides, Navin K. Choudhary, Chief Executive Officer of the Board, and Preet Pal Singh, Additional CEO, attended the meeting.
The Board was informed that till last evening 3,20,968 pilgrims had secured Advance Registration for undertaking the pilgrimage while 99,203 Yatris had availed On-spot Registration facility and, further, that upto 5th August evening, 3,45,037 pilgrims had performed Darshan at the Holy Cave Shrine, which included 43,114 Yatris who traveled by the Helicopter services from Baltal and Pahalgam upto Panjtarni. Members expressed appreciation of the close coordination between the State Government and the Board and noted with high satisfaction the initiative taken to install CCTV Cameras at Access Control Gates at Chandanwari and Domel linking them up directly with the Raj Bhavan via Internet, which has provided the Governor and CEO to monitor movements of Yatris on real-time basis every day.
The Governor informed Members that, for the Yatra 2014, efforts will be timely made to also put in place a system through which the counting of Yatris crossing the Access Control Gates at Chandanwari and Domel could be done automatically. In this context, CEO was advised to take timely measures that the registration system for Yatra 2014 does not have any subsisting loophole.
The Board appreciated the initiatives taken for hosting all Yatra related information on the Board’s website for the benefit of the pilgrims. In this context, the Chairman asked the CEO to take immediate steps for formulating a vernacular version of the Board’s website which should contain all required information for the benefit of all interested persons and parties.
The Board was informed that weather status is reviewed several times a day for which 6 Advance Weather Systems have been installed at Baltal, Nunwan, Chandanwari, Sheshnag, Panjtarni and Holy Cave to provide timely warnings. With IMD’s help a mechanism has also been put in place under which SMS are sent after every three hours to the all concerned authorities involved in the Yatra management to inform them about the weather forecasts, which has very significantly contributed to regulating the Yatra movement.
As regards the casualties suffered by pilgrims within the Yatra area during the ongoing pilgrimage, the CEO informed that as on 5th August, 13 pilgrims had lost their lives, 12 due to medical reasons and one on account of accident.
As suggested by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the Board decided to bring out an easy to read booklet, in Hindi and English languages, to enable better understanding of the Shri Amarnathji pilgrimage.
The CEO made a detailed item-wise presentation on each of the important aspects of Yatra 2013, bringing out the initiatives taken for bringing about all round improvements in the logistics and other arrangements to facilitate the Yatris.
Referring to the measures taken for protection of environment of the Yatra area, Mr. Choudhary said that Sewage Treatment Plants at the Base Camps of Nunwan and Baltal have been upgraded and the required arrangements have been made for round the clock sanitation and cleanliness at the Base Camps and the Camps enroute. Additional toilets, baths and dust bins have been provided to keep the Yatra area neat and clean.
The Chairman requested Sunita Narain to depute a team of experts to pay an early visit to the Yatra area, before the conclusion of the ongoing pilgrimage, to review the impact of the upgraded Sewage Treatment Plants set up at the Nunwan and Baltal Base Camps, assess the efficacy of the Biodigester toilets set up at the Holy Cave on pilot project basis and take stock of the sanitation measures at other Camp locations and advise further action, as necessary.
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