Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board has won the prestigious Best Managed Religious Destination Award for 2015 from CNBC -AWAAZ, a Hindi Business News Channel. This is the third time that the Shrine Board has bagged this impressive award. The holy cave has become the destination of lakhs of pilgrims coming from all the four corners of the country and round the year. The number of pilgrims has crossed one crore. The Board has won the award for contributing not to any one aspect of its activities but for its overall performance, which encompasses a number of its activities. Foremost is that of providing more and more facilities to the pilgrims who come from distant places and track the Trikuta heights to reach the Bhawan for the darshan of Mata.
We have been keeping close track of developmental enterprises, services and facilities of connectivity, accommodation, catering services, medical facilities and many other activities connected with the pilgrimage. We have marked how the Shrine Board performed efficiently in all these branches of its activity. Keeping in view the ever-increasing interest of the pilgrims in visiting the holy shrine, the Railways Ministry made the bold attempt of connecting the hilly town of Katra, the last destination from where trek to the holy cave begins. Katra the disembarking station for the pilgrims is connected by railway with the entire country. This is no small an achievement. It has motivated millions of pilgrims to go on pilgrimage without many travel hassles that were there in earlier days when the Shrine Board began its work. For the creation of the Shrine Board, all credit goes to former Governor Jagmohan who was instrumental in creating the Shrine Board. After he laid the foundation on firm base and drew the roadmap of developing the shrine as the most wanted and cherished shrine in the country, subsequent Governors also contributed to the development of the shrine. However, most of the credit goes to the present Governor, N.N. Vohra, of making the shrine what it looks today. In his capacity as the Chairman of the Board, he has been the source of inspiration for the members of the Board and all subordinate functionaries who are supposed to perform the duties assigned to them. The Board has established a university; it will be establishing a super specialty hospital-cum-Medical College and a College of Nursing. The Board introduced helicopter service for those who are unable to trek the distance. What is more, the helicopter service to Bhawan is the cheapest in the country. The arrangement of electrification, water supply, accommodation for night stay, food services, all are of class. Under the guidance of the Governor, the Shrine Board takes care of not only the shrine complex and matters related to pilgrimage but also the development of Katra town. It has plans for the development of its peripheries, road connectivity and forestation of the surrounding and above all maintaining ecological balance of the entire hilly region. A large number of safai karamcharis are engaged to keep the entire campus neat and clean. This is something one does not come across in most of the shrines. Much before Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave the call of Swachh Bharat to the nation, the Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board had made it an article of faith to keep the shrine campus and the paths leading to it and all establishments connected with pilgrimage clean, hygienic and unpolluted.
The most crucial area for which this Shrine Board has rightly received the award for the third time relates to the facilities provided to the pilgrims right from the minute they begin the pilgrimage until the minute they complete it with full satisfaction. To be fair, very few shrines in India are maintained with such efficiency, seriousness, dedication and the spirit of service. Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine has great potential to develop. It is going to become the hub of cultural, spiritual, intellectual and educational life of Jammu region. The Shrine Board has laid down the example of how a religious institution can be run and develop as the enviable centre of social cohesion. Other shrine boards can draw inspiration from it.
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