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| Shrine board starts roping in Langar organisers | | Annual Amarnath Pilgrimage | |
Jammu, March 07
Learning lessons in advance the Amarnath Shrine Board authorities have started preparations for the smooth conduct of the annual pilgrimage to the cave shrine and will shortly announce the calendar of the yatra.
Taking another important decision the shrine board authorities have also decided to tighten screw on organisations holding free langars right from Pahalgam,the base camp, to the mountain cave to prevent ecology in the region.
The shrine board had received lot of complaints from pilgrims informing us that some organisers of these langars charged them hefty rates for food and lodging when these bodies had been granted for holding free langars."
He said that to discourage such people and organisations "we have decided to charge registration fee to the tune of Rs.10,000,which will be refundable,from each organisation.He said that the amount will be refunded to them only after they will submit no objection certificate from the Board authorities at Pahalgam,confirming that the langar holders neither spoiled the ecology of the area nor charged any money from the pilgrims during two-motnh long pilgrimage.Last year 128 langars had been established from Pahalgam to the shrine cave.Besides this scores of langars had been set up on the highway from Pathankot to the cave.
The board authorities have cautioned philanthrophists and representatives of various religious and social organisations against misusing free langar facilities for extoring money from pilgrims.
The Board has not taken any decision on the calender for the annual yatra.A Board official said "our teams will carry out survey of the route from Pahalgam to the cave shrine before announcing the calender."It has decided that permission will not be given to yatris to proceed to the cave shrine beyond the stipulated period fixed in the calender.
Last year the number of pilgrims touched over 2lakhs which was over a lakh less than the expectations of the shrine board because of the controversy over installation of an artifical ice lingam.
The Board has taken care of this issue and arrangements were being made to ensure that no one was able to tamper with the original ice lingam and these arrangements,besides the upgrading of the mountain route,were expected to boost pilgrim traffic this year.
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