The Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, who is the Chairman of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, formally launched home delivery of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Pooja Prasad for devotees who may not be able to visit the famed Hindu pilgrimage, located between three peaked mountains popularly known as 'Trikuta’, during the Board meeting at the Raj Bhavan here today.To get Prasad delivered home packed in sanitized boxes, a devotee can book the Pooja Prasad through Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board's website. Once the booking is done, the Board ensures that Pooja is performed within 72 hours and Prasad is dispatched through Speed Post. So far, around 1500 packets of Pooja Prasad have been dispatched by the Shrine Board to the devotees across the country through speed post for which the Board has entered into an agreement with the Postal Department.The Lieutenant Governor, while chairing the first meeting of the Shrine Board since taking over in August this year, welcomed the Board Members, at the outset. The meeting was attended by the Board Members - H. H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Dr. Ashok Bhan, Justice (Retd) Permod Kohli, Sh. K. K. Sharma, Maj. Gen. (Retd) Shiv Kumar Sharma, and Sh. K. B. Kachru.Sh. BVR Subrahmanyam, Chief Secretary; Sh. Nitishwar Kumar, Principal Secretary to the Lieutenant Governor; Sh. Baleshwar Rai (Special Invitee); Sh. Ramesh Kumar, Chief Executive Officer of the Shrine Board; and Sh. Vivek Verma, Additional Chief Executive Officer were also present in the meeting. To begin with, the Board reviewed the timely and necessary precautionary measures taken by the CEO Shrine Board in view of the outbreak of corona virus for ensuring the safety of the visiting pilgrims, staff and the public at large and lauded these proactive initiatives.
The Lt Governor directed the CEO for phase wise increase in the number of outside UT pilgrims based on objective assessment of the ground situation.It is pertinent to mention that yatra to the Holy Cave Shrine of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Ji has resumed from 16 August, 2020 and all special Poojas are available to the devotees like Shradha Suman Vishesh Pooja, Atka Aarti, Hawan Pooja and other rituals. The other pilgrim facilities including the Battery Operated Vehicles, Passenger Ropeway and Helicopter services are also operating smoothly by strictly following the social distancing norms and other precautionary measures.Free Langar at Tarakote Marg and Prasad Kendra at Sanjichhat have also been operationalised by the Board for the facility of pilgrims; besides opening of Bhojanalayas in the Shrine area, enroute Bhawan.The Board undertook a comprehensive review of the major infrastructure development projects of the Shrine Board, including those completed earlier, ongoing and which are in the pipeline, aimed at bringing about further improvement in the facilities for the convenience of the visiting pilgrims. The Lieutenant Governor directed the CEO for completion of ongoing works in a time bound manner for facilitating the visiting pilgrims. He further directed the CEO to explore various online facilities for the pilgrims like performing the Pooja, Hawan and other rituals through online mode during the prevailing situation.The meeting also had an appraisal of the functioning of the various projects taken up and accomplished by the Board for the benefit of the society at large. These included establishment of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Gurukul, Superspeciality Hospital, Nursing College, Sports Complex, besides various social support initiatives taken by the Board.Before the commencement of discussions, Sh. Ramesh Kumar, CEO gave a detailed presentation on the latest status of varied activities of the Board and the action taken on the implementation of various decisions of the previous meetings of the Board.