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| Vaishnodevi pilgrimage picking up fast, 10000 visit Bhawan daily | | | Early Times Reporter
Jammu | Sep 10
With normal life picking pace in Jammu, the pilgrim traffic to Mata Vaishno Devi shrine is also heading northwards after touching record low owing to 62 day long agitation over Amarnath land transfer issue.
In the last 10 days over one lakh pilgrims have paid obeisance at the famous Shrine of Mata Vaishno devi .An average number of over 10,000 pilgrims have started visiting Bhawan shrine daily, a senior police officer said adding adequate security arrangements are in place to prevent any major incident.
Pilgrims from various parts of India have started trickling down to Jammu. The shopkeepers in busy market areas of Jammu and Katra town are welcoming them with open arms. The hotels in Katra have also started receiving guests and expect the number of pilgrim would increase further in the coming days.
The healthy pilgrim traffic which touched 70 lakh during last year is the only source of income for thousands of shopkeepers and others employed at different levels in the tourism industry.
The pilgrim traffic to Mata Vaishno Devi had dropped down considerably during the agitation over Amaranth land transfer issue as Jammu witnessed unprecedented bandh and was put under strict curfew restrictions. Large number of pilgrims who visited the shrine in the first week of September had earlier canceled their bookings to ensure their safety and comfort. Raghunanda Lal, a pilgrim from Hardoi was happy after visiting Mata Vasihno Devi Shrine. He said they had earlier planned their visit in the first week of August but canceled the same as curfew was imposed in Jammu. After seeing TV reports we decided to cancel our tickets and booked fresh tickets anticipating situation would improve after one month. Another pilgrim Abhinav Pandey from Gonda said he accompanied his wife to Mata Vaishno Devi. We had also planned a visit to Kashmir but now in view of the tense situation we had canceled our visit after paying obeisance at Mata Vaishno Devi shrine, Pandey said. |
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