Baridars turn up heat on shrine board as Vaishno Devi Yatra remains suspended for fifth day

A group of Baridar community members on Saturday staged a protest against Shri Mata Vaisho Devi Shrine Board (SMVDSB), demanding an impartial probe into the recent landslide on the old route leading to the temple in Reasi district, killing 34 pilgrims and injuring 20 others.

The Vaishno Devi pilgrimage remained suspended for the fifth consecutive day on Saturday, leaving hundreds of pilgrims stranded in Katra, which remained cut off by road and train after record rainfall battered the region recently.

The Baridar community comprises families of priests associated with the Vaishno Devi shrine.

Carrying black flags and raising slogans against the shrine board, a large number of Baridars took to the streets, demanding reconstitution of the board to include two members from their community besides the local MLA and MP.

“We have been observing August 30 as a black day to protest against the formation of the shrine board and in support of the demands for the restoration of our rights. It was on this day that then-governor Jagmohan forced us out and took control of the shrine in 1986,” Baridar Sangarsh Samiti president Sham Singh said.

Blaming the shrine board for the tragic deaths of pilgrims in the landslide on August 26, Singh said the Baridar community rejects the probe ordered by the shrine board chairman and Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha into the tragedy.

“The probe was entrusted to three senior officers to hush up the case. The government should immediately order an impartial investigation to ascertain why the pilgrims were on the track if they are claiming that the yatra was already suspended. The fact is, the yatra was suspended only after the tragic incident,” Singh claimed.

Referring to the probe into a stampede at the shrine on January 1, 2022, that left 12 pilgrims dead and 15 injured, he said the findings of the investigation announced by the SMVDSB chairman are yet to be made public.

“The Baridar community was dislodged from the shrine in the dead of the night on the pretext of mismanagement, despite serving the yatra for centuries. The shrine board, which converted the yatra into a money minting exercise, should be held accountable for not stopping the pilgrimage despite weather warnings,” Singh said.

Seeking the prime minister’s intervention to restore the rights “taken away” from the Baridar community, he said it is high time to reconstitute the shrine board with two members from the community, one from Katra town, the local MLA and the MP for the smooth functioning of the board.