J-K: Senior official reviews arrangements for Amarnath Yatra

Jammu, June 11

A senior government official on Saturday reviewed the facilities for the upcoming Amarnath Yatra here and directed that there should be swift passage at checkpoints for pilgrims on way to base camps.

Additional Chief Secretary, Home, R K Goyal also directed the concerned officials to ensure appropriate security arrangements at Yatri Niwas and other vulnerable points.

The 43-day-long yatra to the 3,880-metre-high holy cave shrine of Amarnath is scheduled to start on June 30 from the twin routes ndash; traditional 48-km Nunwan in south Kashmir’s Pahalgam and 14-km shorter Baltal in central Kashmir’s Ganderbal.

Chairing a high-level meeting of civil and police administration here, Goyal asked the officers to ensure that all pilgrims have a swift passage at the checkpoints and no devotee should have to wait for long.

Goyal enquired about the arrangements and back up plans for providing reliable accommodation, water, electricity, registration, prepaid cards, traffic management, parking, transport, toilet facilities and security services, an official spokesperson said.

Regarding accommodation of pilgrims in case of heavy rush or stoppage of yatra due to any reason, the meeting was informed that there are 32 lodgement centres having a capacity of 15,000 people and nearly two dozen langar (community kitchen) facilities in Jammu district.

Similarly, Kathua has 31 lodgement centres having capacity of more than a thousand people, Samba has 22 lodgement centres with 8000 people capacity, Udhampur has 36 lodgement centres with 9,000 persons capacity and Ramban has 13 lodgement centres having capacity of 8,000 people for accommodation, the spokesperson said.

Regarding Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tagging, the spokesperson said the tagging of vehicles will be done at Lakhanpur ndash; the gateway to Jammu and Kashmir in Kathua district while individual tagging will be done at Jammu.

The senior officer also visited yatri niwas at Bhagwati Nagar and registration counters at different sites here.