Abid Bashir
Srinagar (NVI): A crucial meeting of Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) is scheduled to be held late this afternoon to take a final call whether to allow the annual pilgrimage this year or to cancel it in the wake of huge a spike in the Covid-19 cases along with deaths.
As per earlier reports, the tentative date for commencement of annual pilgrimage was July 22 and only 500 pilgrims were supposed to travel to the cave shrine of Lord Shiva located at the high altitude in the Himalayan mountain range.
Sources told NVI that given the spurt in pandemic related cases followed by deaths, the SASB headed by Lieutenant Governor GC Murmu, has decided to deliberate one last time at 3 PM today, along with the officials of SASB, on whether to allow the pilgrimage amid pandemic or to call it off this year.
“A meeting is scheduled to be held at 3 pm at Rajbhavan, where it will be decided whether to allow the Yatra this year,” a senior official of the SASB told NVI, requesting anonymity.
Religious scholars and civil society activists had criticized the government’s earlier decision where it was stated that the pilgrimage will commence from July 22 amid Covid-19 pandemic. Many doctors too had urged the government to cancel the yatra as it would pose huge risk to the pilgrims as well as locals, including ponywallas who facilitate the pilgrimage. Besides, a huge number of security forces are involved in the pilgrimage every year to ensure smooth and incident-free pilgrimage.
Special Director General of CRPF, Zulfikar Hassan, said that they have kept the forces in ready mode to guard the twin tracks of pilgrimage—Baltal in Sonmarg, in Ganderbal district of Central Kashmir and Chandanwari area of Pahalgam area of South Kashmir’s Anantnag district. “All measures have been taken and we are waiting for the final call from the government,” Hassan said.
However, in the wake of spurt in the cases related to Covid-19 despite lockdown in major towns and the summer capital of Srinagar, the SASB has decided to deliberate on the issue yet again, for the last time, to take a final call. “The final announcement whether the Yatra would commence from tomorrow will be taken this evening,” an official said. “The final announcement will be made at 6 pm today.”
It is pertinent to mention here that at least 15,000 positive cases and 260 deaths have been reported in J&K so far, majority of whom have been witnessed from the Kashmir region.
-ARK
