Over 13,000 perform darshan at holy cave

Notwithstanding the claims of authorities for making basic arrangements for the Amarnath pilgrims, the yatris coming from different parts of the country are subjected to lot of humiliation and harassment at registration counters here.
With increasing rush of yatris as thousands of unregistered pilgrims daily reach here for their journey to holy cave are put to many hardships at registration counters at Jammu.
The three registration counters opened for current registration at Vaishnavi Dham, Saraswati Dham and Transport Yard at Railway Head fail to cater to the rush which has led to a lot of resentment among the pilgrims who resorted to protest and sloganeering against the administration today.
The yatris, who were seen waiting in long queues at Vaishnavi Dham and Saraswati Dham told Excelsior that after entering the queue at 5 am they fail to get the registration card by the afternoon. “Later we are told that the quota of registration for the day has exhausted”, said Ritik Thakur from Indore MP. He said they are a group of four pilgrims waiting for registration here since July . “Now five days have gone still we don’t get the token”. “This is a sad state of affairs and pilgrims are subjected to lot of harassment and humiliation here”, he added.
He said “we are not even allowed to enter the registration counter after 10 am though we enter in the line at 5 am in the morning and are sitting on foot path for many days,. In case we could not get registration by tomorrow we will be forced to return”, he added.
Some pilgrims alleged that they face problems in getting lockers. “We are a group of five pilgrims and for keeping five bags we are asked to book five lockers while the baggage can be packed in two lockers”, said Om Parkash Pandey of Partapgarh UP heading a group of five pilgrims.
Some pilgrims alleged water scarcity at the registration counters. Vijay Laxmi of Barely, UP said that she fainted while standing for hours in the long queue and she could not get the water to drink as she got exhausted due to dehydration.
Ram Chand another pilgrim from the same area who was standing in the queue at Vaishnavi Dham said the medical certificate of registered doctors from the Government hospitals of their respective states is not being entertained by the authorities here and they ask the pilgrims to go fresh medical check up here which consumes more time.
Ram said his 14 year old son was injured after he fell down due to jostling in the queue.
There is no proper arrangement and the authorities to over come the rush were supposed to open more counters which they are not doing, he added.
Some yatris said that they are in queue since 4am and by 3pm they could not get the token. Vishwanath a pilgrim from Bangeluru, Karnataka said “even we have not taken breakfast as we are in queue from 4am and it is 3pm now still we are waiting”,.
Subash Sharma a pilgrim from Indore, MP said the yatris are facing many hardships here and they are treated as beggars by the officials. There is no discipline, he added.
Many pilgrims were seen sitting on footpaths and taking their meals as there was heavy rush inside the registration counters and they were not allowed entry inside.
When contacted an official at Registration counter said that they have given a quota of 1000 pilgrims for registration during the day and the counter remains open till the quota of the day finishes.
A Civil Defense official on yatra duty said that there is heavy rush on Pahalgam counters as a very less number of yatris approach Baltal counters due to recent landslides and death of pilgrims on the track.
He said that as it was raining in the morning so all yatris were asked to enter inside the Saraswati Dham to save them from being drenched in rain.
Even some pilgrims who returned after darshan especially via Baltal track said that had not been free langers at Baltal and enroute yatris would have died of starvation during the days they remained stranded at Baltal.
Madhuresh Chander of Lucknow, UP said that they were stranded at Baltal for four days since July 3 and on July 7 they left for darshan forcibly after over 1500 pilgrims gathered and broke the gate when local police did not allowed them to leave ahead.
He accused the police of harassing pilgrims at Baltal and enroute. “It was only Army and CRPF which supported us otherwise we would have returned without darshan”, he added. There are no arrangements from the Government at Baltal and enroute except free langers by the voluntary organizations, he added.
“We were charged Rs 40 for one water bottle at Baltal which costs Rs 18 in the market” said Akshay Dubey his colleague.
He said Rs 350 were charged per pilgrim in the tent at the Baltal for one night in which 20 pilgrims were given shelter and no one from the administration has taken the cognizance of the same, he added.
Meanwhile on the 13th day of yatra 13,767 pilgrims performed darshan at holy cave today. Till date 1,17,785 yatris had performed darshan at cave shrine.
According to a police officer on yatra duty, 6499 pilgrims left for holy cave from Baltal this morning while 5000 pilgrims left from Nunwan -Pahalgam base camp for holy cave.
He said hundreds of the yatris camping at transit camps of Chandanwari, Sheshnag and Panjtarni also left for their onwards sojourn early this morning.
The officer said 3000 pilgrims are staying at Nunwan base camp while over 3000 are staying at Baltal Base Camp for night.
The ninth batch of 5144 pilgrims left Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas for the base camps of Nunwan -Pahalgam and Baltal under multi tier security early this morning.
One more Amarnath bound pilgrim died at GMC Jammu here today taking the toll in ongoing yatra which started on June 28 to 18.
According to police Madan Lal , 50, son of Rudmal of Jaipur Rajasthan was hit by a bike at Domail on Jammu-Pathankot NH when he was crossing the road to eat food at a free langer in the area.
He was taken to GMC Jammu where he succumbed to his injuries in the morning.

Courtesy: Daily Excelsior: 11/07/2018