Amarnath yatra ends after 59 days

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, August 29

The annual pilgrimage to the cave shrine of Amarnath concluded on Shravan Purnima today amid chanting of Vedic hymns in the spiritual ambience of the south Kashmir Himalayas.

Governor NN Vohra, who is also the chairman of the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB), along with PK Tripathi, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), SASB, visited the cave shrine early this morning, an official said. The Governor prayed for sustained peace, harmony, progress and prosperity in the state, he added.

Tripathi said over 3.52 lakh yatris offered prayers at the cave shrine during the 59-day-long yatra, which had commenced on July 2 from the Baltal and the Pahalgam routes.

The Governor expressed satisfaction over the smooth conduct of the yatra despite difficulties arising due to flash floods, cloudbursts and roadblocks in the preceding weeks. 

Vohra complimented the civil and the police administrations of Anantnag and Ganderbal districts, the J&K Police, the Central Armed Police Forces, the Army and all state government departments concerned and other agencies for the smooth conduct of the yatra.

He directed the CEO to ensure cleaning of all camp sites and to prepare a camp and route-wise action plan for the next year’s yatra, keeping in view the experiences gained during this year’s pilgrimage. 

The Governor stressed that route-wise arrangements of all aspects of the yatra must be worked out well in advance with particular focus on medicare, sanitation, cleanliness, water and power supply and other facilities and, side by side, ensuring effective protection of environment and ecology of the yatra area. 

In this context, the Governor will chair a post-yatra review meeting on August 31. Over hundred officials concerned with the management of the yatra will participate in the meeting, the official said.

The Governor, meanwhile, expressed concern and sympathy over the loss of lives of pilgrims, service providers, shopkeepers and others due to medical reasons, cloudbursts and accidents during the yatra and stressed the need for identifying fresh and further measures which could prevent loss of precious lives in future.

Vohra also asked the CEO to immediately launch a full-scale post-yatra sanitation drive, involving the Pahalgam and the Sonamarg Development Authorities, so that the entire yatra area was cleaned up in the next few days.