J&K prepares for largest Amarnath yatra this year

Despite the sudden surge in Covid-19 infections across the country, six lakh yatris are expected to pay obeisance at the 3888-metre-high Amarnath cave shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas this year during the 56-day long annual pilgrimage which will begin on June 28.

Jammu and Kashmir administration is making necessary preparations for receiving the pilgrims with Chief Secretary, B V R Subrahmanyam directing the officers to make the yatra safe and hassle-free for the pilgrims.

Subrahmanyam, who chaired a meeting to review the preparations for the yatra, enjoined upon the administration to undertake preparations for an expected footfall of six lakh yatris this year, an official spokesperson said.

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To ensure secure passage of pilgrims, directions were issued to appropriately ramp up the holding capacities, yatri accommodations, and public utilities across the route from Lakhanpur to the Holy cave and vice-versa; with special attention to arrangements in consideration of weather extremities, he said.

Deputy Commissioners were directed to enhance the holding-capacity of transit camps under their jurisdictions to accommodate approximately 1.22 lakh yatris including both the cave-bound pilgrims as well as those on the return journey on a daily basis, the spokesperson said. They were asked to project additional requirements of resources to the Tourism Department for timely projection and approval.

Last year the annual yatra was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic while in 2019 the pilgrimage was cut short following intelligence inputs of ‘terror threats’ ahead of the Centre scrapping Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.

If six lakh pilgrims visit this year, it will be the largest number of yatris who will perform Dashan at the Holy Cave shrine.

Since Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) took the control of the yatra in 2001, the number of pilgrims who visited the holy cave was 1.91 lakh during that year, followed by 1.10 lakh in 2002, 1.70 lakh in 2003, 4 lakh in 2004, 3.88 lakh in 2005, 3.47 lakh in 2006, 2.96 lakh in 2007, 5.33 lakh in 2008, 3.81 lakh in 2009, 4.55 lakh in 2010, 6.21 lakh in 2011, 6.35 lakh in 2012 and 3.54 lakh in 2013, 3.72 lakh in 2014, 3.52 in 2015, 2.21 in 2016, 2.60 in 2017 and 2.85 in 2018.