Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 19: Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) J&K unit here today staged a protest demonstration against the collection of money allegedly on the name of registration fee from the devotees from across the country visiting Kashmir to perform holy pilgrimage of Shri Amarnath which is starting from July 1, 2023.
Addressing the protesters, Manish Sahni, J&K president of Shiv Sena demanded free registration for the pilgrimage of Amarnath on the lines of Mata Vaishnodevi pilgrims.
He said that before the year 2019 only Rs. 50 registration fee was charged for the holy Shri Amarnath Ji Yatra which has been increased to Rs. 100 now and the Shrine Board is charging Rs. 220/120 in 2023 on online/offline modes respectively.
Raising questions on the duration period of 62 days for the pilgrimage this year, Sahni said that most of the time in the past, after 35-40 days of Yatra, the Holy Shivling started melting due to which the devotees arriving late remained disappointed and most of them were forced to cancel their journey and return from Jammu without paying obeisance.
The Shiv Sena leader informed that a memorandum has been sent through e-mail to the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir in this regard.
Shiv Sena women wing president, Meenakshi Chibber; general secretary, Vikas Bakshi, Arun Kumar and others were also present in the protest.
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