Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, Aug 21: With the darshan of Chhari Mubarak (holy mace) in cave shrine, on the occasion of Shravan Purnima, the 55 day long annual pilgrimage of Swami Amarnath Ji, which started on June 28, concluded today.
The holy mace reached the cave shrine amid the chanting of Vedic hymns and Mantras from Panchtarni the last haltage point on traditional Chandanwari track early this morning. The Chhari Mubarak led by Mahant Deependera Giri and accompanied by a large number of Sadhus and devotees performed pooja -archana in the cave shrine in a traditional way.
The holy mace later returned to Panchtarni in the evening where from it will reach Pahalgam tomorrow. After a night halt at Pahalgam and performance of religious rituals there, the holy mace will return to Dashnami Akhara temple in Srinagar on August 23.
Meanwhile, a last batch of 185 pilgrims performed darshan in the cave shrine today. With this, a total number of 3.54 lakh pilgrims performed darshan during the 55 day long yatra in the holy cave situated at an altitude of 3880 metres in South Kashmir district of Anantnag this year from both Pahalgam and Baltal tracks. This figure was 2.81 lakh less than the number of pilgrims who visited the holy cave last year. During the last year, a total number of 6.35 lakh pilgrims performed darshan in cave shrine while 6.21 lakh pilgrims visited the holy cave during 2011.
However Chief Executive Officer, Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) Naveen K Choudhary said that several influencing factors including Uttarakhand disaster and statements regarding the perceived threats of terror attacks and the emerging law and order situation were the causes for decline in the number of yatris this year.
He said due to the Uttarakhand disaster the tourist and pilgrims traffic to the hilly States witnessed a sharp decline this year. The pilgrimage to holy shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi has also been affected due to this tragedy where the number of yatris was about seven lakh less than in the corresponding period last year, he added.
It may be recalled that since the SASB took the control of Swami Amarnath Shrine in 2001 the number of pilgrims who visited the holy cave were 1.91 lakh during that year, followed by 1.10 lakh in 2002, 1.70 lakh in 2003, 4.0 lakh in 2004, 3.88 lakh in 2005, 3.47 lakh in 2006, 2.96 lakh in 2007, 5.33 lakh in 2008, 3.81 lakh in 2009, 4.55 lakh in 2010, 6.21 in 2011, 6.35 in 2012 and 3.54 during this year.
This is the lowest number of pilgrims visiting the holy cave during last five years.
The Governor, N. N. Vohra, who is Chairman of the SASB, could not reach the holy cave where he was going this morning along with Navin K. Choudhary, Chief Executive Officer of the Board due to rain and poor visibility.
Expressing satisfaction over the smooth conduct of this year’s Yatra, the Governor thanked the State Government, Army, CRPF, BSF, ITBP, State Police, BSNL, the 5 Banks involved with the registration of pilgrims and all other concerned organizations, particularly the Indian Meteorological Department, and the people of the State, for their valuable contribution to the organization of the Yatra. He lauded the close coordination which had been maintained between the Shrine Board and the Security Forces, the Civil and Police Administration, all the stakeholders and local population in ensuring the smooth and peaceful conduct of the Yatra.
For several months before the commencement of the Yatra on June 28 and thereafter, throughout the duration of the pilgrimage, the Governor made a number of visits to the Yatra area, including aerial reconnaissance of the Yatra routes and visiting all the camps. In the past 55 days Mr Vohra has been daily monitoring all important aspects of the Yatra, a handout issued by SASB said.
In a meeting held here today the Governor asked Navin K. Choudhary, to urgently coordinate action with the Municipal Committee Pahalgam, and the CEOs of the Sonamarg and Pahalgam Development Authorities to immediately launch a massive post-Yatra sanitation drive to see that the entire Yatra area is cleaned up in the next few days. He also reiterated his earlier directions about the complete cleaning up of all camp sites which were being evacuated. The Governor would be undertaking a visit to the entire Yatra area in the next few days to see whether the cleanliness drive had been effectively carried out.
Meanwhile Mr Choudhary also expressed satisfaction that this year’s Yatra was better regulated than in 2012. For this he thanked the Yatris for their cooperation in satisfying the mandatory requirement of obtaining compulsory health certificates before seeking registration to undertake the Yatra. The CEO acknowledged certain shortcomings which had come to light in regard to the registration processes followed by the banks and said that these and all other deficiencies would be sorted out for providing improved arrangements for Yatra 2014.
Referring to various reports about the number of casualties this year, the CEO informed that a total of 13 Yatris had lost their lives during this Yatra, compared to 93 last year and 106 in 2011 which had pilgrimage of 6.21 lakh and 6.35 lakh, respectively.
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