Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 14: For second consecutive day today, pilgrimage to holy cave shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi ji was stopped at 7.30 pm after 38,000 yatris had left for the Bhawan from Katra, the base camp of the shrine.
About 5,000 pilgrims were stranded in Katra town when Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board (SMVDSB) authorities stopped the yatra from the base camp.
Official sources told the Excelsior that Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in the Trikuta Hills has been witnessing heavy rush of the pilgrims from different parts of the country for the past few days.
Yesterday also, the pilgrimage was stopped at Katra at about 7 pm.
Today, the yatra was suspended from Katra till tonight as 38,000 pilgrims had already left the base camp for Mata Vaishno Devi Bhawan.
The yatra slip counter was closed at 7.30 pm, sources said, adding over 5,000 pilgrims were held up at Katra town when the yatra was stopped.
The stranded pilgrims would be issued yatra slips in wee hours of tomorrow morning to facilitate their onward journey to Mata Vaishno Devi Bhawan, sources said.
They added that the yatra was being stopped to ensure that there was no congestion at Vaishno Devi Bhawan and Adh-Kunwari where only limited space was available for the yatris.
During about four and a half month of this year, over 31 lakh pilgrims have already visited Mata Vaishno Devi shrine and paid obeisance to the Goddess. The rush was expected to pick up further during summer vacations.
The Shrine Board authorities have geared up their staff to meet heavy influx of yatris in rest part of the summer when over 35,000 pilgrims were expected to reach Katra daily. In the weekends, the rush could go to 40,000.
In the month of January this year, 4.59 lakh pilgrims visited holy cave shrine this year as against 4.21 lakh in 2011 recording an increase of 37,941. In February, 3.92 lakh yatris had darshan of the Goddess this year while the number last year was 3.69 lakh, an increase of 23,113.
In March, the pilgrimage went up to 8.74 lakh as against 7.55 lakh of previous year, up by 1.18 lakh. However, it was in the month of April that the yatra came down to 9.61 lakh this year as compared to 10.32 lakh of last year, a decline of 71,291.
It was during 2011 that yatra to Mata Vaishno Devi shrine had crossed 10 million mark for the first time. Prior to that 87.3 lakh yatris had visited the cave shrine in Trikuta hills in 2010. In 2009, the number of yatris was 82 lakh while in 2008, 67.92 lakh pilgrims had visited the shrine.
Sources said going by the trend of first quarter when yatra has recorded an increase of over one lakh from the corresponding period of last year, there was every possibility of pilgrimage to Mata Vaishno Devi Bhawan surpassing the last year’s figure of one crore.
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