Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Aug 8: N. N. Vohra, Governor, thanked the Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, State Administration, Army, Central Police Forces, J&K Police, local stakeholders, people at large and all those who were associated with the conduct of this year’s Shri Amarnathji Yatra for their valuable support for ensuring the smooth and peaceful conduct of this arduous pilgrimage.
The Governor emphasized the need for continuing improvement in the arrangements for the yatra by covering all the identified gaps and upgrading of the facilities for the annual pilgrimage. He directed that camp-wise and route-wise Action Plans should be prepared on a time- limited basis, particularly covering the requirements of medicalcare, water and power supply, sanitation, environment protection, accommodation and all other required facilities. He observed that the Shrine Board and all the concerned Government Departments and agencies would need to work collectively to find the required solutions and bring in systemic improvements to facilitate the pilgrims.
The Governor was addressing the Post-Yatra 2012 Review Meeting which was followed by a felicitation function at Raj Bhavan here today. He lauded the excellent synergy and very high level of coordination among the Army, Security Forces, State Police, Shrine Board and each of the State Government Departments and agencies involved with the management of Yatra-2012.
The Governor, who is Chairman of the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board, observed that today’s Post-Yatra 2012 Review Meeting had been convened to obtain feedback and suggestions from the Camp Directors and each of the other major stakeholders regarding the changes required in the existing systems and procedures. Based on the feedback, the Shrine Board will, in collaboration with the State Government, introduce meaningful improvements in the management of Yatra 2013 to provide the best possible arrangements for the Yatris.
Referring to the medicare services for the Yatris, the Governor directed that all these arrangements should be timely worked out by the State Health Secretary, representatives of Army, Security Forces and NGOs, alongwith CEO of the Shrine Board, ensuring that the medical aid centres are evenly located every kilometre or thereabouts, depending on the terrain. He said that all required decisions must be taken by February and the arrangements put on the ground several days before the Yatra commencement.
Emphasizing the need for protection of environment and ecology of the area, the Governor said that all the utilities and arrangements must be sensitive to the bio-diversity. Regarding the provision of power and water, the Governor called for time bound initiation of both short and long-term measures and directed the CEO to take up the related issues with the concerned departments and also ascertain the feasibility of using solar energy for installing light points around the Yatra Camps and on the tracks.
Mian Altaf Ahmad, Minister for Forests, put forth several suggestions to secure further improvements in the management of the Yatra as well as to ensure protection of environment of the Yatra area.
Sham Lal Sharma, Minister for Health, assured that, based on this year’s experiences and the feedback received, medical care facilities will be further augmented at the Base Camps, Camps enroute and in the Holy Cave area and more Medical Aid Centres established at regular intervals to facilitate the Yatris.
Nasir Aslam Wani, Minister of State for Home and Tourism, gave several suggestions in regard to the conduct of the pilgrimage and the positioning of various Yatra-related arrangements.
Navin K. Choudhary, CEO of the Shrine Board, gave details of the various measures being taken for expanding and upgrading the facilities for next year’s Yatra.
The issues which were reviewed during the meeting included functioning of Medical Aid Centres; accommodation and food arrangements for pilgrims, registration system of Yatris, Access Control at the Base Camps and at Chandanwari and Domel, sanitation arrangements at the various Camp locations and coordinated functioning of Board officials and all other concerned agencies. Other issues that came under discussion included operation of helicopter services, services rendered by BSNL, Disaster Management arrangements, functioning of Langars, enforcement of the rates charged by the pony and dandiwallahs, labour etc andthe services rendered by various other departments and agencies and the scope for improvements.
As regards issues relating to security and Access Control, the Governor observed that he would discuss these in a separate meeting.
Mr. Madhav Lal, Chief Secretary, Ashok Prasad, Director General of Police, Vinod Ranjan, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, B. R. Sharma, Principal Secretary, Home, B. B. Vyas, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, Sudhanshu Pandey, Principal Secretary, Power Development, Atal Dulloo, Commissioner/ Secretary, Tourism, Dr. Asgar Hassan Samoon, Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, S. M. Sahai, IGP, Kashmir and Maj. Gen. R. R. Nimbhorkar, GOC, Hqrs, Victor Force were prominent among those attended the meeting.
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