Author: Pioneer News Service
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: June 23, 2004
Amidst growing support for extending
the duration of the Amarnath yatra to two months, Shri Amarnath Shrine
Board (SASB) has expressed "profound" regret at the State Government's
summary rejection of its proposal for a two-month pilgrimage to the holy
cave and urged the Mufti Government to reconsider its decision.
The SASB, which met in Jammu on
Monday, passed a resolution expressing "surprise over the unwarranted interference"
by the State Government to its proposal sent in October last year and again
this year in March, seeking an extension of the yatra.
Talking about the outcome of the
meeting, Mahant Sri Deependra Giri, Justice (Retired) GD Sharma and M Vimila
Dhar said that it was a matter of regret that various proposals of the
Board to improve facilities for the pilgrims as also extending the yatra
along the Baltal route were turned down by the State Government last month
without any proper discussion. The proposals included setting up of prefabricated
shelters, eco-friendly sanitary arrangements and preservation of the ice
lingam in the cave.
"All this had been planned involving
an outlay of Rs 20 crore to be raised entirely by the Board, without any
assistance from the Government. The execution of the work connected with
these measures would have enabled the local population to use Rs 2.1 crore
from the Board in cash, besides boosting the state economy through increase
in traffic, indirectly to the tune of Rs 60 cr," the board said in a statement.
The board has also expressed surprise
over the State Government's decision to impose a ceiling of 3500 yatris
as recommended by the Nitish Sengupta committee, when all these years it
had failed to do so. The committee was set up after a snowstorm killed
243 yatris and left hundreds injured. In 2003, as many as 15000 piligrims
performed the yatra in one day, while the average daily figure was around
8000 in the first fortnight. "Since the yatra track on the Baltal route
has been widened from 7 feet to 11 feet, greatly improving its traffic
capacity, there is no logic behind rejecting the board's modest recommendation
to allow 5000 yatris per day," the board members said.
The board has also take exception
to the State Government's decision to ask the yatris to register themselves
through J@K bank after paying Rs 20 per head. The board had suggested free
registration on Internet as at Tirupati and as was being introduced for
Mata Vaishno Devi yatris.
Clearly unhappy over being denied
permission to augument the facilities for the yatris, the board has pointed
out that the prefabricated shelthers with wooden floors, two-tier bunks
and rexine matresses at camping site for 5000 piligrims would have provided
much greater comfort to the piligrims who are forced to forced to sleep
on the ground in tattered tents. The Sengupta committee had also recommended
setting up of permanent shelters along the yatra route.
The then Chief Minister in 2001
had ordered construction of permanent shelters as well as transfer of more
than five kms land around the holy cave to the board in the first stage.
"Nothing has been done in this regard," the board said. The board has said
that even though the Government has given permission to construct 600 prefabricated
toilets, the police was holding up vehicles carrying the necessary infrastructure.
"This has caused both financial loss and delay" the board notes.
On security concerns, the board
said its recommendation to extend the duration of the yatra on the Baltal
route was made taking into account four pertinent considerations. Firstly
to respect the religious sentiments and allow the yatra from July 2, the
day of Vyas Purnima and conclude it on August 30. Secondly, the Mukherjee
report of 2000, which went into great detail regarding security arrangements
and which was accepted by the State Government, recommended extending the
duration of the yatra on the Baltal route to two months when the security
scenario improved. The board said the improved security scenario and all-
out efforts by the State Government had already led to more than ten times
increase in tourists in 2004 as compared to 2002 for the corresponding
months.
Thirdly, raksha bandhan this year
would follow the yatra dates and therefore it was desirable that the yatra
started earlier so that the rush in August gets reduced. Fourthly, by delaying
the yatra as late as August, it was likely that the lingam would have completely
melted by that time thereby denying the yatris the satisfaction of the
holy darshan.
