As the guns have fallen silent on the borders with ceasefire between India and Pakistan after escalated tension and normalcy has limped back, the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board (SMVDSB) has offered free facilities to woo the pilgrims from across the country to the sanctum sanctorum nested here in Trikuta Hills of Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir.“The pilgrims have started returning to the pilgrimage and to facilitate their journey from Katra to the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Bhawan, efforts are being made to provide free facilities,” Anshul Garg, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, said.
“As devotees have started heading towards the base for performing the yatra gradually, witnessing an increase, the Shrine Board is providing all the facilities to them for their smooth and hassle-free journey,” the CEO said.
“To enhance the number of pilgrims, the Shrine Board is providing several facilities to the pilgrims free of cost, starting from Katra including free Aarti Darshan and accommodation,” Garg expressed.
He revealed that besides that, the Shrine Board has also set up food counters at various places en route Bhawan, at Banganga and as well as at Katra Railway Station.
The Shrine Board had also announced a free accommodation facility at the Katra-based Ashirwad Complex for the devotees, he said.
The CEO said, “Although numbers remain modest, with summer vacations and the tourism season ahead, we are expecting a heavy rush of pilgrims in the coming days.”
Notably, on May 15, by 10 PM, as many as 5,423 devotees had left from Katra to the cave shrine, and during the period of escalated tension between India and Pakistan, 45,430 pilgrims offered prayers at the cave shrine from May 6 to 13.
On May 6, 12917 pilgrims visited the cave shrine, and on May 7, 12760 while on May 8, 8670 pilgrims, on May 9, 3962 pilgrims, on May 10, 1352 pilgrims, on May 11, 1303 pilgrims, on May 12, 168 pilgrims and on May 13, 2808 pilgrims visited the shrine.
However, expressing faith in the government and the Armed Forces, the devotees at Katra, have appealed to pilgrims across the country to visit the Bhawan and seek blessings of “Maa Bhagwati”.
The helicopter service to the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine has also resumed on Wednesday after remaining suspended for a week due to the military standoff between India and Pakistan, and the battery car service is also operational, he said.
The CEO also said, “The Shrine Board has implemented comprehensive security arrangements along the route from Katra to the Bhawan, under the supervision of police and CRPF, and the CCTV surveillance systems and Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) are operational.”
“To ensure pilgrim safety and facilitate smooth yatra regulation, Shrine Board has operationalized the ICCC at Katra town,” he further told UNI adding, “timely activation of the ICCC as this center enabled real-time monitoring, swift response to emergencies and effective coordination among security agencies through a network of 700 CCTV cameras with features like gesture recognition, face recognition, PTZ and such others as per operational requirements.”
More than 3.5 lakh pilgrims during the navratras period in April, and more than 25 lakh pilgrims paid obeisance till mid-April at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine this year.
