Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 25: Antarashtriya Hindu Parishad (AHP) has warned Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) against any move of curtailing the holy Amarnath yatra from two months to one month.
At a press conference here, today , Dr Sham Lal Gupta, State working president of the organisation said that this move will not only be detrimental to the trade organizations, hotels and other bodies relating to tourism industry but also hurt the religious sentiments of all Hindus across the country.
He said in last one decade especially since 2008 many controversies have surfaced over holy Amarnath yatra and finally it was decided that the yatra will start on Jesht Purnima and culminate on Raksha Bandhan coinciding with Sawan Purnima.
Dr Gupta said that it was with the efforts of Shrine Board and social organisations that the number of yatris touched eight to nine lakh but it was reduced to two lakh due to the threat of militants.
He said Shrine Board came into existence with the efforts of social organisations of Hindu community of the State and country with the sole aim and objective of providing better facilities to yatris and promoting the number of yatris visiting for darshan but it is unfortunate that Board is now trying to reduce the yatra duration from 60 days to 30 days which will not be acceptable, Gupta added.
He also warned the langer wallas advocating for curtailment of yatra and demanded that they be identified and should not be allowed to install their langers.
He demanded that proposal regarding curtailing the yatra be reviewed and yatra should start on Jesht Purnima and culminate on Sawan Purnima coinciding with Raksha Bandhan. Further efforts be made that the yatra should run for entire year.
He also demanded that the langer people be given strict directions to concentrate on providing facilities to pilgrims instead of interfering with duration of yatra.
Deepak Gupta Regional Organising secretary, Gulshan Sharma, Ch Kamal Singh, vice presidents, Davinder Singh Jamwal, Sanjay Kumar, secretaries, Rakesh Bajrangi and Preetam Singh were present in the press conference.
Meanwhile reacting sharply to the Shrine Board’s move to put in public domain for opinion to restrict Swami Amarnathji yatra to 30 days, Jammu Province People Forum (JPPF) has advised the Governor to desist from raking up the old chronic issues in the present scenario as it will cause a definite stir not only in the State but the country as well.
Addressing a meeting of JPPF its president, Pavittar Singh Bhardwaj said that it won’t be advisable to even air the proposal at this stage as the yatra is currently running smoothly for the last nearly a month. Settled issues should not surface again and again especially so far as conduct of Shri Amarnathji yatra which is a very delicate issue and the reduction of yatra period will be sinful.
Every Hindu of the country as well as abroad is determined to pay obeisance to Lord Shiva and hence no one will be allowed to create hurdles in the same, Pavitar Singh added.
Members who attended the meeting included Inderjeet Khajuria,Avinash Bhatia, Rajinder Gupta, RS Jamwal, Balwan Singh, Rajeev Mahajan, Rajesh Thapa, Suneeta Sharma, Kamla Sharma, Prof. OP Sharma, Prof Darshan Sigh Bhatia, Surinder Veer, Pawan Sharma and Preeti Chowdhari.
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