Five Amaranth Yatra pilgrims die in 36 hours, toll rises to 24
Officials said most of these deaths occurred due to high altitude sickness resulting in lack of oxygen followed by cardiac arrest.
In order to ensure all goes well, Principal Secretary to Lieutenant Governor and Chief Executive Officer Shri Amarnath Shrine Board, Mandeep K. Bhandari on Monday chaired a meeting of concerned Deputy Commissioners and other departments and took stock of the arrangements for the coming Amarnath pilgrimage.
The meeting was attended by Divisional Commissioner Jammu, Ramesh Kumar; Deputy Commissioners of Jammu, Udhampur, Kathua, Samba, Ramban, Director, Tourism, Jammu, Additional CEO Shri Amarnath Shrine Board, Director, Rural Sanitation, Director, Urban Local Bodies and concerned officers while Commissioner, Secretary, Rural Development Department, Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, Deputy Commissioner Anantnag, Ganderbal alongwith concerned officers participated in the meeting through video conferencing.
The CEO reviewed in detail the arrangements of sanitation services being put in place for the convenience of the pilgrims at base camps, langar sites and en-route to the pilgrimage. He sought details from Director Rural Sanitation, Director Urban Local Bodies about the preparedness.
The Director Rural Sanitation informed that the tenders have been floated for the installation of mobile toilets. Over 940 toilets at Baltal axis and 1345 toilets at Pahalgam axis would be set up and manpower of 1370 would be deployed for managing these toilets including sanitation workers, supervisors and other staff, he informed further.
To keep the Yatra camps and tracks clean, the CEO instructed the concerned departments to appoint nodal officers at key locations to keep a close watch on cleanliness and sanitation operations in all camps and along the track and particularly littering of waste and plastic materials.
The Commissioner Jammu Municipal Corporation apprised the CEO that anticipating higher number of pilgrims coming for the Yatra this year, the Municipal Corporation would install additional 120 toilets at yatri niwas and other locations in the Jammu city.
Bhandari reviewed the mechanism for registration, RFID and ekyc of pilgrims. The Additional CEO Shri Amarnath Shrine Board gave a PowerPoint presentation on the ongoing registration process, while the technical staff of the Board demonstrated the process of registration with KYC and non-KYC.
It was informed that the adding aadhar number on the designated portal will automatically fetch the details of the pilgrim.
The technical team, while giving demonstration, apprised that pilgrims with eKYC done on permit will not require further KYC verification but the non KYC yatris will be verified during the Yatra before issuance of RFID card. It was further informed that carrying the Aadhaar card and yatra registration slip (permit) is mandatory for pilgrims to undertake the yatra.
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