Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 6: Pilgrimage to holy cave shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi ji has reached close to two million mark during first four months of this year but still it was less by about two lakh over the corresponding months last year. The yatra has, however, started picking up in the month of May with on an average about 25,000 pilgrims reaching base camp of Katra daily for darshan of Goddess Vaishno Devi. Official sources said about 20 lakh pilgrims have visited the cave shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi ji located in famous Trikuta Hills of Katra town in Reasi district during first four months of this year. Though the number was quite significant, it was down from last two years of 2013 and 2014. “The pilgrimage till April this year was down by 1.94 lakh as compared to corresponding period of 2014 and by 7.56 lakh from 2013,” sources said. During first four months, 19.57 lakh pilgrims visited the cave shrine. The yatra till April last year was 21.52 lakh while in 2013 it was 27.14 lakh. It has gone down by 1.94 lakh from 2014 and 7.56 lakh from 2013. In the month of January this year, 3.59 lakh pilgrimage visited Mata Vaishno Devi shrine located at a height of 5200 feet from sea level, while the number during 2014 was 3.71 lakh and in 2013 it was 4.36 lakh. The yatra was down by 12,196 as compared to 2014 and 76,568 from 2013. In February 2015, 2,89,460 yatris performed darshan of natural pindies of Goddess Vaishno Devi while the number during 2014 was 2,84,720 and during 2013 it was 3,49,433. The yatra was up by 4740 from 2014 and down by 59,978 from 2013. In March this year, 6,17,785 yatris prayed at the holy cave shrine as against 6,62,889 in 2014 and 7,87,659 in 2013. The yatra was down by 45,104 from 2014 and 1,69,874 from 2013. In April only 5,97,472 pilgrims visited the shrine this year, recording steep decline of 1,51,673 from 2014 and 4,34,829 from 2013. During 2011 and 2012, the pilgrimage had crossed one crore mark. While the number of yatris was 1.01 crores in 2011, it went up to 1.04 crore in 2012. However, the number came down to 92.43 lakh in 2013 and 77.65 lakh in 2014. Pilgrimage to Mata Vaishno Devi was just 13.95 lakh in 1986 when Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board (SMVDSB) had taken over affairs of the shrine. Since then, the yatra continued to go up every year creating new records but it fell down during past two years of 2013 and 2014 due to variety of natural reasons including Kedarnath ji tragedy in 2013 followed by tensions on the International Border in 2013 and 2014 and September 2014 flood. It was for the first time in 1991 that the pilgrimage had crossed 3 million (31.15 lakh). The 4 million mark had reached in 1996 while the yatra reached 50 lakh in 2000 and 60 lakh in 2004. It was in 2007 that the yatra stood at 74.17 lakh. The pilgrimage came down to 67.92 lakh in 2008 due to two months long Amarnath land agitation but again went up to 82 lakh in 2009 and reached 87.2 lakh in 2010. It was for the first time in 2011 that the yatra crossed 10 million mark and stood at 1.01 crore.
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