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| More Amarnath yatris will die a miserable death | | SASB Hails Its Chairman -- I | | Rustam
JAMMU, July 25: Over 95 Amarnath yatris has lost their precious lives till date and more will die a miserable death in the remaining days of yatra. There should be no doubt about it. The yatra concludes on August 3. The response of the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board, which is headed by Governor N N Vohra, to these tragic deaths of the Amarnath yatris has been highly negative. Nay, it is provocative and inhuman. Only yesterday, the SASB expressed "satisfaction" over what it called the "strenuous efforts made under the Governor's sustained direction for ensuring satisfactory management of the pilgrimage", saying this despite "serious constraints arising out of heavy snowfalls in the preceding winter and bad weather for several weeks before the commencement of the current yatra". It was nothing but a manifestation of its insensitivity.
It is important to note that the SASB has on it members like Sunita Narain, who publicly admits that she is not a devout Hindu. Only yesterday night in a TV debate on the unfortunate deaths of 97 Amarnath pilgrims, she defended the indefensible. She said she is there on the board as an environmentalist and that she was interested more in the preservation of ecology than anything else. She pounced upon other participants who were denouncing the SASB for not making adequate arrangements for the safety and health of the yatris. She was highly critical of the BJP, VHP and other organizations which have been taking up the issue of Amarnath pilgrims and those panelists who accused the members of the SASB of "sitting on unaccounted money" and asked her "where is the money going?"
Yesterday, miffed with the SASB and its callous attitude towards the Amarnath yatris, a BJP delegation led by Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj met with Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and sought his "immediate intervention" so that the "arrangements en-route Amarnath shrine are firmed up to prevent casualties involving pilgrims". It submitted a 10-page memorandum to him, which also contained an eight-point charter of demands. The memorandum alleged that "there is a systematic pattern during the last few years to reduce duration of Amarnath yatra". "It is a historical yatra and has a religious and cultural significance to this country… By raising an unwarranted controversy regarding yatra duration, Amarnath Shrine Board creates 'negative atmosphere', instead of helping the yatris. This atmosphere of uncertainty leads to putting obstacles raising a question mark on the future of the yatra itself," the memorandum said. As for the eight-point charter, it contained several demands all aimed at creating adequate facilities for the visiting devotees of Lord Shiva. The charter demanded that "Jammu & Kashmir Governor N N Vohra should be directed to act in accordance with Hindu sentiments and reconstitute Shri Amarnath Shrine Board including members who have faith in the shrine". The charter also demanded that "the proposal of installing a ropeway for which the DPR was made and submitted by RITES six years back should be implemented on war footing; that "arrangement should be made at Pahalgam, Chandanwari and Baltal to provide proper shelter to the pilgrims to face the vagaries of weather"; that "safe yatra houses should be built for at least 15-20 thousand yatris"; and that "at least two hospitals should be established with a 200-bed capacity at Baltal and Nunwan and small hospitals at 4-5 other points on the Yatra routes". The BJP memorandum could be construed as a direct and blistering attack on the governor, who is an ex-officio chairman of the SASB. How else should one interpret the demand of the BJP delegation that "Jammu & Kashmir Governor N N Vohra should be directed to act in accordance with Hindu sentiments and reconstitute Shri Amarnath Shrine Board including members who have faith in the shrine"? It could also be construed as a scathing attack on the members of the SASB like Sunita Narain, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, founder of Art of Living, and others who are Hindus only in name. Remember, it was Sri Sri Ravi Shankar who had defended the decision of the Shrine Board to curtail the yatra period advancing spurious argument. Similarly, it was Sunita Narain, the so-called environmentalist, who defended yesterday night the decision of the Shrine Board to reduce the duration of yatra to less than 40 days, as against 60 days during the time of Governor S K Sinha. She said had the Shrine Board not reduced the yatra period, more and more pilgrims would have died. (To be concluded)
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