The annual pilgrimage to the Holy Cave Shrine of Shri Amarnathji concluded today, on Shravan Purnima, amid chanting of religious hymns in the spiritual ambience of South Kashmir Himalayas.Governor N. N. Vohra, who is Chairman of the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board, and Mr. P.K. Tripathi, Chief Executive Officer, visited the Cave Shrine early this morning. The Governor prayed for sustained peace, harmony, progress and prosperity in the State.The Governor expressed satisfaction over the smooth conduct of this year’s Yatra, despite serious difficulties arising from the flash floods, cloud bursts and road blocks in the preceding weeks. The Governor complimented the Civil and Police Administrations of Anantnag and Ganderbal districts, J&K Police, Central Armed Police Forces, Army, and all the involved State Government departments and other agencies for the smooth conduct of Yatra-2015.
The Governor directed the CEO to ensure complete cleaning of all Camp sites and to prepare a Camp and route-wise Action Plan for Yatra 2016, keeping in view the experiences gained during this year’s pilgrimage. He 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 is chairing a Post Yatra Review Meeting on 31st August in which over a hundred officers who were concerned with the management of Yatra 2015 will participate.
The Governor expressed concern and sympathy over the loss of life of pilgrims, service providers, shop keepers and others due to medical reasons, cloud bursts and accidents, during this year’s Yatra and stressed the need for identifying fresh and further measures which could prevent loss of precious lives in future Yatras.The Governor asked the CEO to immediately launch a full scale post-Yatra sanitation drive, fully involving the Pahalgam and Sonamarg Development Authorities, so that the entire Yatra area is effectively cleaned up in the next few days.The CEO stated that over 3. 52 lakh Yatris paid their obeisance at the Holy Cave Shrine during this year’s pilgrimage, which had commenced on 2ndJuly, both the Baltal route and the Pahalgam route.