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| Weather Gods playing spoilsports, state, SASB adding to miseries of pilgrims | | | EARLY TIMES REPORT
Jammu, July 3 : Even though weather gods are to be partially blamed for some of the hardships being faced by the large number of Amarnath bound pilgrims enroute the cave shrine but the state government and the Amarnath shrine board authorities also cannot escape the blame for creating mess of the whole situation in the very beginning of the yatra season.
By first making an announcement that on the spot registration is available for the pilgrims who have not registered themselves before the start of the yatra the shrine board and the state government have added to the miseries of the registered pilgrims who had planned their yatra well in advance. Media persons camping in the base camps along the yatra route are flooded with complaints of harassment by the large number of pilgrims,especially registered ones.
Though the state government has not allowed the yatra to proceed from Jammu for last two days there is huge gathering of pilgrims at the base camp in Nunwan and Pahalgam.
Going by the past experiences the state government and the shrine board were well advised by the experts to regulate the yatra and allow entry of limited number of pilgrims on the track to ensure smooth darshan inside the cave.
But it seems all such norms have been thrown to the winds as more than 85,000 pilgrims have already performed darshan in the last four days. The pilgrims arriving here in Jammu have been complaining of over charging, and open loot, lack of space at yatri bhawan, lack of hygiene, drinking water and shaded area to wait. In addition uncertainty with regard to their yatra plan is also taking a heavy toll on their pockets.
"We are getting everything including accommodation in tents, food, snacks, at a higher price and there is no govt agency on the ground to listen to our genuine complaints", a pilgrim from Mahrashtra complained after purchasing water bottle at a exceptionally higher price.
"We have to stay put in a local hotel for last two days in Jammu and if the wait period would extend further we would have to shell extra money, beyond over budget to stay put in Jammu in the hope of joining the next batch of pilgrims".
On the other hand there is no dearth of pilgrims who are manipulating their travel and greasing the palms of the policemen at the check points to earn permission to proceed further to the Kashmir valley. Even policemen on duty have been left confused as they say how can we stop every single vehicle traveling on the highway esepcially when tourists claim that they are going to the Kashmir valley and are not pilgrims. Interestingly, if the government has allowed only three-four batches of not more than 2200 people to proceed from Jammu base camp under protection how come more than 85,000 pilgrims manage to reach Kashmir based base camps to perform pilgrimage and return home as well.
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