Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, June 28: Chanting Bam Bam Bhole and Jai Baba Barfani, the first batch of 2280 yatris left for holy cave of Amarnath Ji amid tight security measures from Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas here early this morning in a cavalcade of 72 vehicles.
The Yatris included 1811 male, 422 female and 47 Sadhus left in 46 heavy vehicles and 26 light vehicles. Out of them, 1582 left for Pahalgam while rest left for Baltal where from they will leave for holy cave situated at an altitude of 3888 meters in the deep Himalayas in South Kashmir district of Anantnag.
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This year, the yatra will be eight days shorter than last year’s 48 days and will conclude on Shravan Purnima (Raksha Bandhan) on August 7.
The Government had made elaborate security arrangements for the yatris this year in view of the increasing terrorist incidents in Kashmir Valley and prevailing unrest there. The air surveillance has been conducted to ensure the security of yatris and for the first time drones have been put into service for surveillance at the Yatri Niwas, Bhagwati Nagar.
There have been tight security arrangements not only in Base Camp but enroute to holy cave right from Lakhanpur in Kathua district which is the gateway of the J&K. Every person entering the Yatri Niwas is being frisked by security men at the entrance point, besides the services of the sniffer dogs are also being utilized for fool proof security.
A contingent of security vehicles also escorted the yatra to base camps of Baltal and Pahalgam in addition to RoP movement to ensure safety of pilgrims.
Mountain Rescue Teams (MRTs) of the State Police along with rescue teams of various security forces have been pressed into service along with fire fighting teams at pre-determined points.
Undeterred by terrorist threat, the yatris were in high sprits and they were singing bhajans in praise of Lord Shiva. “We do not feel any threat,” said Ajay Singh a young pilgrim from Gurugram, Haryana who was accompanying three of his colleagues for darshan.
“We are visiting holy cave for the third consecutive turn this year and with the grace of Mahadev we are afraid of no body as no one can harm us’’, he added.
The people should come in large numbers to perform the yatra as no body on earth can deny us the right to worship, he said.
Same were the views of Geeta Devi, a pilgrim from Ujjain, MP who had come along with a group of 30 pilgrims for darshan. “We are happy and don’t feel any threat as our earnest desire is to have the darshan of holy Ice Lingam which will be a new thing in our lives because we are visiting the holy cave for first time,’’she added.
She asked,” why to be scared of militants’ threat when we have full faith and belief in Lord Shiva -the almighty and no one how powerful he may be can harm us without his willingness”.
The yatra was flagged off by Deputy Chief Minister, Dr Nirmal Singh along with Minister of State for Tourism, Culture and Education, Priya Sethi. NC MLA Devender Singh Rana, BJP MLC Charanjit Singh Khalsa and senior police and civil officers including IG Jammu Region, S D Singh Jamwal, I G CRPF, A V Chauhan, Divisional Commissioner Jammu, Dr M K Bhandari, D C Jammu, Rajesh Ranjan, Director Tourism Smita Sethi, DIG Jammu, Kathua range (newly promoted IG) Ashkoor Wani , DIG CRPF, Jammu Range Mrs Nitu and DIG CRPF Hiranagar Range SLC Khup besides other officers were also present on the occasion.
As the first bus left the Yatri Niwas, the slogans Bam Bam Bhole rent the air with pilgrims singing and dancing to the drum beats. Earlier the traditional pooja was performed by the religious scholars at Yatri Niwas.
Talking to reporters, Deputy Chief Minster, Dr Nirmal Singh said that State Government welcomes the yatris with open arms and he wished more and more pilgrims should come for darshan of Barfani Baba. He said all arrangements are in place and the fool proof security measures have been taken for the safety of pilgrims.
“We wish this will be a joyous yatra and Baba Barfani will shower his all blessings on pilgrims and the people of the country’’, he said, adding “the security threat has been there always when tourist season arrives or holy Amarnath yatra begins because Pakistan always wanted to create trouble,. But we have made fool proof security arrangements’’, he added.
Dr Nirmal Singh said besides the routine deployment for the security of yatra 30,000 additional security forces personnel have been deployed this year for smooth conduct of yatra. “The people of the State will welcome these yatris and Pakistan or terrorists will not succeed in their vicious designs with the blessings of Baba Barfani’’, he added.
Talking to reporters the IGP CRPF A V Chauhan said smooth conduct of yatra is not a big challenge for forces as security forces have taken all measures to ensure fool proof security to pilgrims visiting the holy cave. He denied that there is any specific input about threat but said that security forces are taking all measures to ensure safety of pilgrims.
There is three tier security for pilgrims. In addition to Army, CRPF and JK Police have been deployed to ensure safety of pilgrims and all the three wings of force are working together in close coordination. Besides, all best technology including satellites have been utilised for security of pilgrims, IG added.
He said the pilgrims who left for base camp from here expressed full faith in the capacity of the CRPF to ensure incident free and safe yatra to them. Such excitement among the pilgrims and their display of faith in the force served as the motivation for the security personnel who have pledged to provide security to the pilgrims, IG CRPF Chauhan added.
Meanwhile the reports reaching here all the yatris had crossed the Jawahar tunnel by 3-30 pm and while some groups among them have reached Pahalgam while others were on way to the base camps of Pahalgam and Baltal.
However some yatris complained about the arrangements and accused the authorities of misleading them. At TRC Community Centre, Rail Head where the Token Centre for pilgrims has been opened by the authorities no proper facilities have been kept for pilgrims who have to stand in open Sun in this hot and humid temperature while going for registration.
Moreover there are no facilities of urinal or toilet in the area though hundreds of pilgrims throng there daily for getting the token for registration. The authorities could have installed a moving toilet for temporary period for the convenience of pilgrims. Even the morning walkers who pass from the area have taken serious exception to this slackness of the Government and termed its claims about the arrangements totally hollow. How can be people be satisfied with the Government’s claims when the yatris have been put to such hardships here. Even a big garbage dump lying near the token counter has not been removed and it has created a public nuisance, said one morning walker.
Meanwhile as per reports 2093 pilgrims crossed the Lakhanpur in 101 vehicles to leave for holy cave from here tomorrow.
Meanwhile, an ITBP officer died of cardiac arrest near the cave shrine of Amarnath in South Kashmir today, police said.
Assistant Sub Inspector Sanjun Singh complained of severe chest pain while he was on his way to the cave shrine from Brarimarg, a police official said.
He said 42-year-old Singh was rushed to a hospital at the Baltal base camp where doctors declared him as “brought dead”.
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