Governor N. N. Vohra, who is Chairman of the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, during his visit to the Holy Cave Shrine of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi, inaugurated a well designed Pony Stand in the Bhawan area.Dr. S. S. Bloeria, Mr. H. L. Maini, Dr. Ashok Bhan and Maj. Gen. (Retd) Shiv Kumar Sharma, Members of the Shrine Board; Mr. B. B. Vyas, Financial Commissioner, Planning and Development and ex-CEO of the Shrine Board; Mr. P. K. Tripathi, Principal Secretary to the Governor; and Mr. Ajeet Kumar Sahu, Chief Executive Officer, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board were present on the occasion.
The 4 floor Pony Stand, built at a cost of Rs. 3.50 crore, shall provide all required facilities for the 330 ponies to halt here. Shifting the ponies from the Track to this new Pony Stand will help in clearing space on the Track in the Bhawan area and ensuring much easier movement of pilgrims, particularly during heavy rush of Yatris to the Shrine.
The Pony Stand has a separate duct for the sanitary disposal of mule dung and urine. The Governor directed the CEO to prepare a well defined Standard Operating Procedure for running the Pony Stand so that the pilgrims are not put to any inconvenience whatsoever.The Pony Shed has an area of 11000 sft and separate approach paths have been provided to each floor from the upper track. An office room with attached toilet facility has also been provided in the Pony Stand. Among others present on the occasion were Dr. Piyush Singla, Additional CEO, Mr. Arvind Karwani, Dy. CEO, Mr. Jagdish Singh, SDM, Bhawan and other concerned officers and engineers of the Board.