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| Vaishno Devi Pilgrimage Plummets | | | SANDEEP BHAT
Jammu, May 28: The recent disturbance in neighbouring state of Punjab and forest fire in Trikuta hills along the track of holy cave shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi gave set back to yatra. As per source devotees have cancelled their railway tickets coming from various part of the country.
Devotees coming from the state become panicky due to wide-spread violence in Punjab damaging public and private property which including burning of trans and busses. To reach the holy cave one has to pass through Punjab but due to circumstances, beyond their control people changed their programme and cancelled the tickets etc.
As per reports from Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, the influx of yatries to holy cave daily was nearly thirty to thirtyfive thousand, but due to violent protest in Punjab the number has come down more than half (15000, to 17,000). The abrupt fall of in number of yatriees visiting the holy shrine has made shrine board official worried as this is the time when devotees visit the shrine in great number as school and colleges are closed due to summer vacations. As per official of the shrine board, that are chances that devotees may change their mind as normalcy has return to Punjab and train service re-starts.
The other incident which disrupts yatra is frequent forest fire along the holy track, which due to high velocity of winds spread rapidly and as a result gutting of dozen of shops and some buildings etc. Due to this also people got scared and ask their kid & kins and friends not to risk, resulting decline in number of yatriees is also major factor.
Ram Krishan Malhotra a stranded passenger at Jammu railway station along with his family, in a chat with reporter of this paper said, forest fire a head of Adhkumari temple was terrible, as blaze spread rapidly, and nobody was in a position to help his co-yatriee, even no help from police or authorities was in sight. He said every body was frightened, and now irony Punjab un-rest adds fuel to the fire. Cancellation of number of trains is also one of the reasons which compel devotees to cancel this programme of visiting holy shrine, but with improvement in law and order in Punjab, shrine board officials are expecting that people will visit the holy shrine in large number on day to come.
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