Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Nov 5: Notwithstanding introduction of several trains to Katra, the holy town and base camp of Mata Vaishno Devi ji shrine, the pilgrimage this year has hit an all time low in past five years so far and was unlikely to touch even eight million less to speak of one crore, which it had touched for two conseciutive years during 2011 and 2012.
After spurt in the pilgrimage to the cave shrine of Goddess Vaishno Devi, located between Trikuta Hills at the height of 5200 feet from sea level, from 2010 to 2013, the yatra had shown steep decline in 2014 and was further going down in 2015 despite launch of train service to Katra in June last year and extension of a number of trains to the holy town this year.
Official sources told the Excelsior that the pilgrimage during 2015 was expected to hit an all time low in the past five years if the present trend, witnessed during first 10 months of this year, persisted in the last two months. In 2014,77.65 lakh yatris had vis ited Mata Vaishno Deviji shrine as compared to over one crore yatra in 2011 and 2012 while this year, the number of pilgrims was not expected to cross 8 million as during first 10 months of 2015, the pilgrimage was about 1.86 lakh less as compared to corresponding period last year.
However, significantly, the yatra was down by over 5.9 lakh by August this year in comparison to previous year by the end of October, the decrease has come down to 1.86 lakh mainly due to increase in the pilgrimage in the month of September by about 2.5 lakh and October by about 1.5 lakh. In September 2014, Jammu and Kashmir was hit by devastating floods, leading to decline in pilgrimage.
Sources said even if the yatra now witnessed slight increase in last two months of this year, it was not going to cross 8 million i.e. it would be lowest in the past five years.
By the end of October this year, 67,20,694 pilgrims had visited Mata Vaishno Devi ji shrine as compared to 69,06,726 during corresponding period last year, recording a decline of 1,86,032.
In October 7,94,623 yatris visited the shrine as against 6,43,990 last year.
In 2010, 87.2 lakh pilgrims had visited Mata Vaishno Devi ji Shrine while in 2011, the yatra had, for the first time, touched one crore figure to stay at 1.01 crores. In 2012, it went up to 1.04 crores while it was in 2013 when tragedy struck Kedarnath ji shrine in Uttarakhand that the pilgrimage came down to 92.43 lakh and further went down to 77.65 lakh in 2014.
Sources attributed a number of reasons behind decline in the pilgrimage even though Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board (SMVDSB) was bracing up to receive 10 million pilgrims every year from 2011 and 2012 onwards.
“Frequent shelling and firing on the Jammu borders during past two years, disturbances in Kashmir, series of fidayeen attacks including Udhampur and Dinanagar in the recent past, Kedarnath ji tragedy in 2013 etc were some of the reasons, which had led to sharp decline in the pilgrimage in 2013, 2014 and 2015,” sources said, adding that some of the pilgrims were also not in favour of cumbersome procedure introduced by the Shrine Board making it mandatory for every pilgrim to get clicked for registration.
They were of the view that instead of simplifying the procedure, the Board has made it tiresome and time consuming. Further, they were of the view that the Shrine Board was required to increase free accommodation for pilgrims at all the places including the base camp of Katra town, Adh-Kunwari, Vaishno Devi Bhawan, Sanji Chat and other such points to attract more pilgrims.
“The Shrine Board is making arrangements for only high-end pilgrims. At the same time, lodging facilities for lower to middle class should also be arranged at all places right from Katra to Bhawan as it was this section, which constitutes bulk of yatra,” the pilgrims pointed out.
There was general demand from the pilgrims that the Shrine Board should run free langar at Vaishno Devi Bhawan for the pilgrims to help the yatris as was being done at various religious places.
“Such a facility (free langar) would not only help the yatris but also attract more pilgrims,” they said.
Pointing out that T Series company earlier owned by Gulshan Kumar and now by his family was running free langar at Ban Ganga for past over 25 years, sources asked: “if a private company can run free langar for the pilgrims, why can’t the Shrine Board”?
It may be mentioned here that even after the killing of Gulshan Kumar in 1997, his family continued to run the free langar for Mata Vaishno Devi ji pilgrims at Ban Ganga, benefiting a large number of yatris.
The Shrine Board, it may be mentioned, has been running several eating points on virtual ‘no profit no loss’ basis at various places from Katra to Bhawan but there was general demand from the yatris that the Board should arrange free accommodation for them at various places to take rest during the pilgrimage.
Sources said arrival of more trains to Katra from different parts of the country in the near future could see increase in the pilgrimage. Moreover, peace on the borders could also attract more yatris.
Pilgrimage to Mata Vaishno Devi was just 13.951akh in 1986 when the SMVDSB had taken over affairs of the shrine. Since then, the yatra continued to go up every year creating new records but the decline started in 2013.
It was for the first time in 1991 that the pilgrimage had crossed 3 million (31.15 lakh). The 4 million mark was reached in 1996 while the yatra reached 50 lakh in 2000 and 60 lakh in 2004. It was in 2007 that the yatra stood at 74.17 lakh.
The pilgrimage came down to 67.92lakh in 2008 due to two months long Amamath land agitation but again went up to 82 lakh in 2009 and reached 87.2 lakh in 2010. It was for the first time in 2011 that the yatra crossed 10 million mark and stood at 1.01 crore.
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