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| SASB goes backward; shifts helipad, abandons ropeway project | | Amarnath Yatra-2011 | | Syed Junaid Hashmi
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, June 2: Unfazed by agitating Hindu social and religious organisations, Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) apart from curtailing Amarnath Yatra period from two months to 45 days has taken several regressive steps on the way to holy cave shrine.
Sources in SASB maintain that ropeway project has seemingly been abandoned. An official of the board on the condition of anonymity expressed complete ignorance about any such project. He said "I am not aware of any ropeway project. Whether board had ever conceived it or it is merely a myth is an issue to be probed."
However, sources confirmed to Early Times that RITES, the same agency that made the reports for Gulmarg Gandola project, had submitted a feasibility report to the tourism department which is nodal authority for clearing all ropeway projects in the state. They added that tourism ministry has not cleared this project for the last seven years. Ask for the reasons and they would tell you that SASB is not interested.
Sources added that citing environmental pollution as one of the reasons; SASB has shifted the helipad from a place near the Holy Cave to Panjtarni, which is 6 kilometers away form the cave shrine. They said that shifting of helipad altogether defeats the very purpose of having a helicopter service in place. Sources explained that the move is aimed at helping local pony owners to have unfettered right to carry Yatris to the cave.
Sources maintained that SASB has not added even a single prefab or insulated hut but actually got most of the existing huts removed and shifted to Katra, the base of Holy Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine. They explain that the move is aimed at allowing the local tent owners to have their say in the entire gamut of things. Sources affirmed that board has been unable to resist the pressure of separatists in Kashmir valley.
Sources even rebut the allegation that pilgrimage to Amarnath is more detrimental for the environment than the one for Mata Vaishno Devi. Referring to the claim that track from Baltal side passes through Thajwas wildlife sanctuary, a study report maintains that even if the allegations were true, it should have resulted in an immediate ban on the entry of all vehicular traffic to the Thajwas glacier as well as of mules, sheep and human beings who go in hundreds to enjoy the beauty of this glacier.
But this is not happening. In fact, the wildlife department has even erected a barrier on the road leading up to the glacier but what they do at the check post is best left to our imagination. So, again it is a case of double standards---don't allow pilgrims in the Thajwas wildlife sanctuary but don't stop "tourists". And, the environmentalists of the Valley are aghast if told that both pilgrims and tourists in this case are the same; so if you stop pilgrims, you effectively reduce the number of tourists too.
The study effectively says that in any case a ropeway project, if allowed to come up in the Amarnath sector, would solve most of the pollution problems caused by hundreds of mules and horses going up on the track. It will also enable pilgrims to 'fly over' the occasional wildlife that may like to cross the current trekking route during the daytime.
Next, of course, is the problem of making sanitation arrangements for the thousands of pilgrims and pony-pithoo walas. Amarnath Shrine Board has already shown the way by totally eliminating the use of foul smelling DTLs (Deep Trench Latrines) that the state government agencies were earlier so fond of putting up on this track.
Instead they have installed more than two thousand pre-fabricated toilets all over the route which by using an innovative technology convert all the sewage into manure without letting it contaminate any water body. If anything, this experiment needs to be copied by every civic authority in J& K who should hang their head in shame for not even constructing and maintaining even two hundred public toilets in the entire state.
"If the track is not clear, what is the need of circulating photographs of the snow-clad mountains? Let an independent team have an on-spot assessment of the situation and then, decide whether the curtailment of Yatra period is justified or not. SASB should come out of fear and speak up for the sake of justice," said an official. |
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