Anil Anand
Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board (SMVDSB) and Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB)- the success of the first led to the formation of the latter after a gap of a decade- were till recently the best examples of how efficiently the management of the religious shrines can be run by autonomous bodies under government control. In fact, SMVDSB which was the brainchild of the then Governor of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, Mr Jagmohan, had become a role model on efficient management of religious shrines till the tragedy struck last year.
The SMVDSB came into existence in the mid-1980s when Mr Jagmohan was heading the administration in Jammu and Kashmir during the Governor’s rule, amidst widespread complaints of mismanagement and total lack of facilities in the conduct of pilgrimage. The SASB was formed a decade later in 2000 by the then Government headed by Dr Farooq Abdullah.
Both SMVDSB and SASB have recently been in the news for wrong reasons.The last six months have seen manmade/ natural calamities striking the two fragile mountain ranges- the Himalayan range which houses Shri Amarnath Shrine being the more vulnerable of the two- wherein the holy Shrines are located. These tragedies, the Vaishno Devi was without doubt a manmade tragedy while the jury is still out on the recent Amarnath one, should be taken as an alarm bell by the administration-both in Delhi, since the Union Territory is governed from the national capital, and the UT administration.
Sit up, analyze, pin-point the drawbacks and failures, take remedial measures with the sole aim of safeguarding the lives of the pilgrims. Review should be a continuous process after a pilgrimage is completed every year but that does not seem to be the case accept that high profile visits by VVIPs in the name of ensuring fool-proof arrangement have been on the rise. Apart from the customary review meetings taken by the administrative set up in the run up to the pilgrimages, there seems to be no professional and permanent mechanism in place for review of facilities in the face of environmental and other challenges.
The tragedy that had struck at the Shri Vaishno Devi Shrine on the night of December 31, 2021, as the country was preparing to celebrate the New year, led to the nation stepping into the New Year on a somber mood. The official figures suggest the stampede resulting due to accumulation of uncontrolled flow of pilgrims at the dead of night led to 12 deaths and scores injured. The subsequent video clips of the stampede left no one in doubt about the scale of mismanagement and enormity of the tragedy.
A never-ending investigation into the tragedy was immediately announced by the Lt Governor’s administration and accordingly a three-member inquiry panel headed by the then principal secretary Shaleen Kabra was set up with express directions to submit the report within a week. Accordingly, a public announcement was made to seek inputs from the people regarding the stampede, that could help in the investigations.
Even six months after the deadline for submission of report by the Kabra panel ended, nothing has been heard about the outcome of this inquiry. Should it be construed that the report has been conveniently swept under the carpet to conceal certain serious lapses that led to the stampede and precious lives of the devotees having been last?
There are serious questions that are begging for answers primarily about the command and control at the level of the SMVDSB and the administration and coordination among various agencies managing the security at the Shrine. Shouldn’t some heads must have rolled by now? On the contrary the then top officials of the SMVDSB have since been rewarded with prize postings and Lt Governor as chairman of the Board has maintained a studied silence.
It certainly was a manmade disaster begging for responsibility to be fixed to prevent any repeat in future. The buck must have stopped at the highest level as it involved both human lives and faith of millions of devotees.
The Shri Amarnath tragedy resulting due to cloud burst/ excessive local rains (clarity is still to come on this aspect) has its fair share of human contributions in bringing this catastrophe. The questions are already being asked of the administration as to why was the tentage and langers allowed to come up on the slopes ravaged by the gushing waters coming from upstream as a similar phenomenon was witnessed last year also but without any loss of human lives as the pilgrimage had been suspended due to COVID-19 pandemic. The security personnel who were camping at the very sight had a narrow escape. The one explanation could be the paucity of space in the difficult and fragile terrain which needed to be handled by regularising the flow and number of pilgrims.
Intriguingly, the Union Territory is yet to order any inquiry into this tragedy while the report of the Vaishno Devi stampede is still awaited. This does not augur well as such an approach will only shake the confidence of the pilgrims in the system. Merely claiming success in high numbers of pilgrims turning up for the twin-yatras and touting it as sign of normalcy, will not serve the purpose. It is for the administrative machinery to ensure sanctity of “astha” (faith) of the people which is deeply hurt by a no-holds-bar approach at least in the matter of allowing streams of pilgrims without ensuring their safety and more importantly protecting the natural environment.
It should not be left purely to bureaucrats to manage these pilgrimages as in these sensitive locations the questions of “astha” (faith) and protection of fragile natural environment are intertwined. In fact, the two are inter-related and inter-dependant as purity and protection of environment is given the highest place in Hindu religion. The experts particularly the environmentalists should have a greater role to play in the planning and conduct of these pilgrimages apart from the security experts.
As is known Amarnath Peak is part of the great Himalayan range and is located in an ecologically fragile zone with Zojila pass on its one side and the Machoi Glacier on the other. It is in this context that the repeated incidents of cloud burst/excessive local rains during the last few years should be taken as a warning signal.
In the similar vein the Trikuta Hills housing the Shri Vaishno Devi Shrine is under great stress due to ever-increasing number of pilgrims and the corresponding need to create more infrastructure. All these factors should be calculated in proportion to ecological safety and environment of the areas. Unchecked flow of pilgrims and mindless increase in creating infrastructural facilities such as roads and buildings is only going to aggravate the problem in the years to come.
Setting records in terms of growing number of pilgrims every year should not be construed as any sign of success. The success should be determined by the safety of the pilgrims and the environmental sanctity of the area.
Hear the wake-up calls or the alarm bells, or else many such disasters could be in store in future. Let the question of “astha” be not overstretched with no politics attached to it.
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