Kargil strikes overshadow Vaishno Devi pilgrimage

Substantiating that there has beena considerable decrease in arrival of pilgrims, sources said that June used to be a peak season for Mata Vaishno Devi pilgrimage in view of the summer vacations. While the Shrine Board used to allow about 18,000 pilgrims to proceed to the shrine from Katra, another 12,000 to 15,000 devotees always kept on waiting in the town during the period. Though the number of pilgrims having darshan at the shrine remains almost the same, their arrival has decreased considerably, sources said. With no waiting in the town at present, sources said like the corresponding period of last year, there are no groups of pilgrims sitting on the roadside, outside shops and other public places for want of accommodation.Pointing out that nearly 4,000 to 5,000 pilgrims were waiting for their turn to proceed to the holy shrine from Katra last week, a police official said that the rush had come down suddenly. While the pilgrims are in a hurry to return to their native places in view of the Kargil conflict, their daily arrival from Jammuand other parts of the country has also come down, he added.

The worst hit of the situation are the hoteliers, guest houses and sarais, besides private bus operators and taxiwallahs. A number of pilgrims especially from Mumbai, Gujarat and Calcutta have got their bookings cancelled in the hotels.

“Only one of our 20 rooms was occupied at present,” said the manager of a leading hotel at Katra. Nearly half the number of rooms were vacant in another prestigious hotel. The situation was no different in other hotels and guest houses.

Significantly, this was the position when all the hotels, guest houses and sarais used to be jam-packed with pilgrims in June during the previous years. In the absence of any accommodation, groups of pilgrims used to wait even in public places for their turn to proceed to the holy shrine.“We have been receiving calls from customers asking for cancellation of their booking every day. We have been trying to convince them that Kargil was about 500 km away from Katra town, butthey are not prepared to listen to anything,” some of the hoteliers said.

They attributed the decrease in pilgrims traffic to the reporting of Kargil incidents by electronic media. They have been projecting the things in such a manner that the entire State appears to be in the grip of war.