J-K set to promote Amarnath yatra despite PDP’s aprehensions

Governor,N N Vohra,has asked the government to “draw maximum number of pilgrims to the state.”

The directions from Vohra who is also the Chairman of the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) came in Jammu on Thursday,when as the head of the board he held the first meeting with the States Tourism Minister Nawang Rigzin Jora.

“For nearly half an hour meeting it was decided that the Amarnath pilgrimage will be operated in a manner that the pilgrims don’t flood the Pahalgam town and shoo away the tourists,said,Jora.

Officials said that the government was trying to reap the harvest of climate of peace which was building in the state to promote the pilgrimage in a big way.

This has come at a time when the Shri Amarnath Yatra Sangarsh Samiti (SAYSS) has already postponed its agitation and was satisfied with the government’s response on its demands including the payment of compensation to the traders who suffered losses during the agitation.

Convenor of the SAYSS,Leela Karan Sharma,said,“The decision to withdraw the PSA against religious preacher,Dinesh Bharti,is a welcome step”.

However,while the government was working on its plan to promote Amaranth yatra as a major pilgrim tourism destination,PDP says that the yatra “should be reasonably restricted.”

PDP General Secretary,Nizamudin Bhat,said,“Government should not lose sight of the fact that the yatra disturbs with the environment.”

Extension of the Amarnath yatra had earlier pitted the Former Chief Minister,Mufti Mohammad Sayeed,against Governor,S K Sinha,with the latter being adamant on increasing the time of the yatra.

In fact this year State government expects that more number of pilgrims will visit the state.

“What began as a pilgrimage with only few thousand yatris crossed 5 lakh last year. We expect that the yatra will be double this year. Among the pilgrims are also high end spenders who come for the darshan in choppers. We will cash in on this chunk of pilgrims as tourists and divert them to the other destinations of the state. Tourism department will be a nodal agency in this as the yatris have to register with the department only.”

J-K government said that following the divide which the state witnessed in the near two month long agitation over the transfer of land to Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB),both the board and the government will work in tandem to facilitate the pilgrimage in the state.

However with Lok Sabha elections scheduled in April this year,Governor was making it sure that there was no politics over the issue. However for the SASS,the issue has still not died down.

“Government should implement all the demands which it had agreed due to which we called off the agitation earlier,” said Leela Karan.