Srinagar: The number of pilgrims visiting revered cave-shrine of Amarnath in Kashmir Himalayas is declining steadily, prompting many of those associated with the annual event to call for reducing the yatra period and restricting it to one month only in future.
Till Monday, as many as 240,536 devotees had paid obeisance at the 3,888-metres-high cave-shrine. The two-month-long yatra began on June 28. It was on July 22 when the highest number of 22, 550 pilgrims visited Amarnath in a day. The week beginning on July 10 also witnessed heavy rush of pilgrims with at an average about thirteen thousand of them praying every day at and having darshan of the iced stalagmite Shiv lingam at the cave-shrine. The yatra crossed the two lakh mark on July 17, its twentieth day. But it is since that day only that the number of visitors started declining. In view of the “progressive decline” in the number of arrivals, Jammu and Kashmir governor, N.N. Vohra, who is also the chairman of the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB), decided to discuss the issue threadbare with its members and also the officials of various security forces to chalk out future strategy with regard to yatra management. On Monday, Mr Vohra presided over the 35th meeting of the board and it was during this meeting that one of the important players called Shri Amarnathji Barfani Langer Organisation (SABLO) made a strong plea for reducing the yatra period to one month.
According to a spokesman of the SASB, the SABLO in a presentation stressed that the pilgrimage data for the past five years shows that more than 90 per cent of pilgrims perform darshan at the cave-shrine in the first thirty days of the yatra. On the basis of this pattern and citing other reasons, the SABLO argued that the period of pilgrimage should be restricted to thirty days. “Taking note of the demand made by SABLO, the board observed that this important issue needs to be placed in the public domain,” the spokesman said. Also, this year’s yatra has been disrupted on several occasions due to hostile weather.
