Pilgrims Return Without Darshan

Gujarati yatris return without having darshan after Overcharged

Tired and heart broken, Nattu Bhai and his wife Jasu Behan were taking feeble steps. With tears in their eyes and hoping to return next year they were on their way to Pahalgam for onward journey to Baroda, Gujarat without performing darshan of the holy Ice Lingam of Lord Shiva in the Amarnath cave shrine in South Kashmir Himalayas.

They had planned the yatra last year and had been saving money for whole year to make this holy journey. But they exhausted their money in Sheshnag and decided to return.

Fifty eight year old Nattu Bhai is the leader of the 11 member group, mostly elders. All of them from same locality of Baroda, Gujarat. "We had planned this yatra last year. All of us saved money for this trip but at Sheshnag we were short of money. And then we decided to return," said Nattu Bhai.

"We had brought money as per the rates claimed by the Government. But here we were overcharged. For tented accommodation we were charged Rs 250 per person while the rate is Rs 90. We were charged Rs 4,500 by pony-walas from Chandanwari to Amarnath Cave while the rate is Rs 3,200. And palki-walas charged us Rs 18, 000 while rate is only Rs 13, 000, he rued."

Jasu Behan said "it was difficult for us to make the forward journey. When we realized that we exhausted our money we decided to terminate our yatra. If Lord Shiva wishes we will come next year. Begging was the only option for continuation of our yatra but we decided not to go for it."

Seventy-year-old Bindu Behan, who was the eldest member of the group said "It had been my last wish to have darshan but Lord Shiva didn't grant it this year."

The Tent Union president at Nunwan, Muhammad Anwar denied over charging. He said "we are charging only Rs 90 here at Nunwan but we have no idea what others charge at Chandanwari, Sheshnag and other places. If they are overcharging, it is wrong."

Ghulam Muhammad, a pony-wala admitted that they overcharged. "The Government rate is Rs 3,200 from Chandanwari to Cave shrine and back but our rates range from Rs 4000 to Rs 4500 depending upon the customer."

"When it is peak season, the Government enforces rates. If we overcharge and are caught police beats us. But when the season is lean, we even charge Rs 2000 to Rs 2500 and at that time no one checks our rates, he added."

The overcharging complaints by Amarnath pilgrims are rampart. Even the pilgrims allege that helicopter tickets are sold at higher rates.

Alok Tiwari of Uttar Pradesh, who had performed darhan from Baltal route said, he was charged Rs 6,500. Normally the return fare for the traditional Pahalgam route set by the SASB is Rs 6,900 while for the shorter Baltal route is Rs Rs 4850 per person.

Amarnath Yatra 2011

First batch for Amarnath Yatra leaves today

Amarnath Yatra- 2011 is commencing tomorrow as the first batch of around 4000 pilgrims including Sadhus will leave from the base camp Yatri Niwas at Bhagwati Nagar at 5.30 AM.“Over 4,000 yatris have arrived from various parts of the country in Jammu today. More pilgrims are arriving,” Deputy Inspector General of Police Farooq Khan said.

The first batch of pilgrim will leave from the Bhagwati Nagar-based Yatri Niwas tomorrow, base camp of Amarnath yatra in Jammu for their onward journey to the shrine located at a height of 13500 ft. The yatra will be flagged off by the Minister for Tourism Nawang Rigzin Zora. Earlier “Pratham Pujan” was performed at Panjtarni by CEO SASB joined Niyas office bearers in June 15.

Khan, who welcomed the pilgrims at the newly set up reception-cum-assistance centre at Kunjwani on the outskirts of Jammu city, said that adequate security measures were made for the yatra period.“We have asked pilgrims and their families to pray for peace to prevail in Jammu and Kashmir when they pay obeisance at the cave shrine,” the DIG said.

Notably for Yatra, elaborate security arrangements have been made besides the deployment of thousands of paramilitary forces and police personnel along the entire Yatra route and its peripheries. Reception and Information Centres have been established enroute for educating the Yatris and providing them first hand information about the routes and lodging available at various places. Besides, Joint Yatra Control Rooms too have been established in each district to deal with the issues relating to Yatra. The main reception centre has been established at Lakhanpur, Kunjwani and Railway station.

Yatri Niwas was opened today for registration of pilgrims for lodging. With a multi tier security, the Niwas, spread in an area of several hectares of land, has started community kitchens, assistance booths, joint control room, registration centre as well as boarding and lodging areas.

In the meanwhile, Jammu and Katra Hoteliers have offered special discount of 30 percent on room tariff on all the advance bookings during the Amarnath Yatra. The representatives of the Hotelier Associations  offered the discount at a meeting with the director tourism Jammu convened to discuss comfortable stay of pilgrims during the annual Himalayan cave  yatra  in Kashmir.

In connection with Yatra, Minister for Health and Family Welfare Sham Lal Sharma also visited yatra base camp at Bhagwati Nagar here today and took stock of arrangements put in place for facilitation of Yatris.The minister directed the senior officers of the police and civil administration to ensure close coordination for smooth conduct of Yatra. He laid special emphasis on sanitation arrangements, round the clock supply of drinking water and electricity during the entire yatra period. He directed health authorities to ensure adequate stock of medicines and other medicare facilities for the pilgrims.

The minister directed the Deputy Commissioner, Jammu to personally monitor Yatra on a regular basis and ensure that pilgrims do not face any kind of inconvenience. He also suggested roping in civil defence, Red Cross and other voluntary organizations to facilitate the pilgrimage Divisional Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner, Chief Engineer PHE, Director Tourism, Director Health Services, Chief Medical Officer, Health Officer, JMC, senior officers of police and allied civil departments of Jammu district were present on the occasion.

Notably on June 21, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram had visited Pahalgam and reviewed the law and order situation and the arrangements for the Amarnath yatra. Senior officers of the police and the civil administration had apprised the Union Home Minister about the security situation in the area, particularly in view of the arrangements made for the yatra.

A follow-up review meeting had taken place in Jammu on June 24 to take stock of security arrangements for yatra right from Lakhanpur to Banihal, places of stay and sites of langers.  The meeting was attended by IG Jammu zone, IG CRPF, DIG Jammu and Kathua range, DIG Udhampur-Reasi range, DIG CRPF, DIG CID, DIG IRP, DC Jammu, CMO Jammu, senior police officers, besides officers from paramilitary, army and intelligence agencies.

In the meeting, the deployment worked out by district SSPs, security wing and traffic in Kathua, Samba, Jammu, Udhampur and Ramban too was discussed and reviewed. The assessment of intelligence agencies too had been taken into account.

Governor reviews Amarnath Yatra arrangements

The Governor, N. N. Vohra, who is the Chairman of the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board, today visited Baltal, Panjtarni and Nunwan Camps and reviewed the arrangements made for this year’s Shri Amarnathji Yatra, which is scheduled to commence on June 29, from Baltal and Nunwan base camps.

The Governor, accompanied by Sunita Narain, Member of the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board and a well-known Environmentalist and R. K. Goyal, Chief Executive Officer of the Board, reached Baltal from Srinagar this morning and reviewed the Yatra-related arrangements positioned on the ground. He particularly reviewed the sanitation arrangements, operation of Sewage Treatment Plant, water and power supply, medicare, access control, establishment of langars, security and other services.

He directed the CEO to ensure daily monitoring and supervision of all arrangements. The Governor also visited the 3-day Art of Living camp at Baltal, organized by the Shrine Board in collaboration with the Art of Living Foundation and interacted with a number of participants.

At Baltal, Mohammad Ashraf Shuntoo, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Ganderbal, informed the Governor that the ongoing reparations for the Yatra were at the final stages and there would be no difficulty in commencing the pilgrimage on June 29. Imtiaz Ahmad, SSP Ganderbal, Mushtaq Ahmad,  CEO, Sonamarg Development Authority and the district officers of the various concerned Government Departments and functionaries of the Shrine Board were present on the occasion.

At Panjtarni, the Governor had a round of the entire camp area and reviewed the latest the status of the ongoing preparations. He directed all the functionaries involved with the Yatra-related activities to ensure that yatris were provided the best possible acilities to make the pilgrimage a pleasant experience, despite the vagaries of weather, difficult terrain and mountainous tracks. He particularly stressed round the clock cleaning of toilets/baths and the entire camp area.

On his arrival at the Nunwan base camp in the afternoon, the Governor reviewed the facilities which had been set up for the smooth conduct of the Yatra. The Governor, along with Sunita Narain, inspected all the sanitation related arrangements, particularly the operation of Sewage Treatment Plant at the Nunwan base camp. Deepak Slathia, Police Yatra Officer, Pahalgam axis and R. K. Jalla, SSP, Anantnag were also involved in the discussions.

The Governor instructed that all the required sanitation measures should be effectively enforced to ensure that all flows from the camp area have been properly treated before discharge. He emphasized that environment and ecology must be preserved, particulary ensuring the timely collection and treatment of all types of wastes. He stressed the use of plastic shredders for disposal of plastic bottles and other plastic materials and segregation of waste materials for appropriate treatment.

Div Com reviews Amarnathji Yatra arrangements

Divisional Commissioner, Jammu Dr. Pawan Kotwal today said that first batch of Shri Amarnathji yatris would leave Yatri Niwas at Jammu on June 28, 2011and all arrangements for the smooth conduct of Yatra are being put in place.

Dr. Kotwal said this at an officers meeting organized here at Yatri Niwas Bhagwati Nagar Jammu to review the Yatra arrangements.

The meeting discussed in detail the arrangements being put in place for the hassle-free stay of the yatris in the city of temples for pilgrimage of Amarnath. These include identity cards to the yatris, their transportation, drinking water and power supply at the Yatri Niwas at Bhagwati Nagar and other lodging sites spread across the city, sanitation and health check facilities and regulation of prices of essential commodities and other eatables. Other arrangements like security, traffic, regulation and parking of vehicles were also finalized in the meeting.

Among others, DIG, Jammu Kathua Range, Farooq Khan, Additional Commissioner, Jammu, D. R. Sharma and Director Tourism, R. S. Mehta, ADC Jammu Sheetal Nanda, Chief Engineer PDD, RTO, Jammu, Virinder Singh Slathia, Joint Commissioner, JMC,. Babu Ram, Deputy Director Information, (PR), Jammu, Suram Chand Sharma, SP Traffic, Zahid Manhas, XEns of various Wings and other officers from SRTC, CAPD, BSNL, CRPF, Health etc were present.

Later, the Divisional Commissioner also discussed various projects recommended by Special Task Force for Jammu division at a meeting attended by officers of various developmental departments.

The main projects deliberated upon include upgradation-widening of Ramnagar-Dudu Basantgarh-Latti road in Udhampur, Solid Waste Management project for Udhampur, Widening of Patni-Top-Sanasar road, Water Supply Scheme for pilgrim town of Katra from Dhanser nallah in Reasi district, Alternate Bridge near Abdullah Bridge in Rajouri district, New District Office Complex/ Mini-Secreatariat at Poonch, Construction of Patimahal-Dachhan Road in Kishtwar district.

Upgrading Jammu Airport-including shifting of utilities, Modernization of General Bus Stand/development of multi-tier parking at Jammu, Alternate water supply scheme to save lakes of Surinsar and Mansar, Approach road and bridge to Railway Station Banihal in Ramban district, Tourism Projects of Jammu division, Upgrading the Chakrohi Seed Multiplication Farm for Jammu Basmati etc. were also discussed. The Divisional Commissioner exhorted upon the officers complete the DPRs of various projects within stipulated time frame. He asked for maintaining close coordination between various departments to ensure early completion of preliminary works.

2.25 lakh pilgrims registered

Over 2.25 lakh pilgrims have registered themselves for the pilgrimage to 13,500-feet high cave shrine of Amarnath in south Kashmir Himalayas.

 As many as 2,25,076 lakh pilgrims for Amarnath yatra have been registered at various registration counter and online centres across the country, Nodal officer of Registration officials and Vice President, Jammu and Kashmir Bank, Abdul Hamid said.

 The registration process is going on smoothly without any problem, he said. Of the total 2.25 lakh registered pilgrims, 45,495 pilgrims have registered themselves through online while rest have registered at counters at different places across the country. Giving details Hamid said that as many as 1,13,048 pilgrims have registered themselves for pilgrimage to cave shrine via Baltal route, while 1,12,028 pilgrims opted for the traditional Pahalgam-Amaranth route via south Kashmir.

 The Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) began the registration process on May 10 for the yatra. "The registration counters have been set up at 121 designated branches of the J&K Bank, 24 of the YES Bank and four of the District Cooperative Banks," the SASB spokesman.

 The Shrine Board, at its meeting on February 18 this year, has curtailed the period of the annual pilgrimage by 15 days. The yatra would commence simultaneously from Baltal and Chandanwari routes on June 29 and culminate on August 13.