Srinagar: The Chief Secretary, Dr Arun Kumar Mehta, today held a high-level meeting of civil administration and police to take stock of arrangements for the upcoming Amarnath Yatra, 2023 in light of Supreme Court directions to ensure smooth conduct of Yatra, an official press release informed.
It said Dr Mehta observed that the Yatra is filled with religious fervour and should be developed as a benchmark in religious tourism. “The Yatra has a significant impact on both our economy and composite culture,” he said, adding that all arrangements made should make the Yatra a memorable experience.
He also said that the pilgrims should fully enjoy this spiritual journey in the lap of nature without any haste to cover more distance.
The Chief Secretary took first-hand appraisal from all the concerned departments and Deputy Commissioners about the civil works related to the smooth conduct of the Yatra. He enquired from them the kind of arrangements and backup plans for providing reliable accommodation, water, and electricity facilities made by each of them in their districts.
He directed the divisional and district administrations to ensure that no ‘Langar’ (kitchen), tenement or any other service is established in disaster-prone areas. He urged the concerned DCs to certify the same before the commencement of the Yatra.
He also asked for the deployment of NDRF, SDRF and mountain rescue team personnel in adequate numbers at all the vulnerable spots en route holy cave.
Dr Mehta also laid stress on ensuring that an appropriate number of washrooms, dustbins, and sanitation workers should be in place at each location. He stressed on making all the base camps and other sites comfortable, clean and hygienic using modern techniques especially around ‘Langar’ areas.
He asked for deploying adequate manpower for the maintenance of public utilities and providing all the paraphernalia required in these utilities.
Moreover, the Chief Secretary made it clear that all the departments should prominently display their achievements right from entering the UT at Lakhanpur till reaching the holy cave. He laid stress on improving the aura and face-lifting of the entry points at Lakhanpur, railway stations and airports of J&K.
Dr Mehta asked the Deputy Commissioners of Anantnag and Ganderbal to examine both the routes up to the holy cave themselves and see that all critical, protective works have been carried out satisfactorily. He asked them to ensure proper cleanliness and illumination of all the routes and areas so that the ambience is festive in the whole of the UT.
He further said that the SHGs registered under JKRLM, Mission Youth and other agencies should be provided an opportunity to showcase their products enroute Yatra. He also called for providing ample opportunities to the locals to do their business as per the regulations made for each trade.
He took note of all the preparations made till date by departments like Health, Jal Shakti, PDD, PWD, RDD, H&UDD, BRO, Shrine Board, and the divisional and district administration. He directed them that there should be high-end arrangements from each quarter with inter-departmental coordination so that the arrangements made are both efficient and established on time.
On the occasion, the Principal Secretary to the Lieutenant Governor, Mandeep Kumar Bhandari, who is also CEO of the Shrine Board, gave a detailed presentation of the arrangements made for the smooth conduct of this year’s Yatra.
It was revealed that nearly 4,000 sanitation workers and 12,000 service providers are going to be roped in this year for providing different services to the pilgrims. Further, it was revealed that RFID passes after Aadhar-based eKYC of each registered pilgrim would be granted for better management and to avoid overcrowding and rush during Yatra this year.
It was made out that all the facilities are being upgraded from last year with provision for better health, connectivity, telecom, water, and electricity facilities along with a disaster mitigation plan.
The meeting was informed that accommodation facilities for some 70,000 pilgrims at base camps and around 53,000 at other lodgements are going to be provided to the devotees. Regarding the telecom services it was said that 25 towers would be installed by BSNL, seven by Airtel and 29 by Reliance Jio besides high-speed internet through the lease line to Yatra camps. The Yatra would be monitored on a real-time basis in the Integrated Command & Control Centre located centrally.
It was also made out that 29 health facilities are going to be established en route to be manned by around 1,800 medics/paramedics to be provided by GoI (188), other States/UTs (695) and the J&K Government (907) itself. This year the 100-bedded hospitals at Baltal and Chandanwadi are going to greatly enhance the health facilities for Yatris with additional features of telemedicine and super speciality services through the e-Sanjeevani portal, the meeting was apprised.
It was made out that weather forecasting infrastructure is upgraded with the use of RADARs and Automatic weather stations (AWS). The damaged bridges on both axis are being re-launched besides widening/upgradation of narrow and vulnerable stretches as per the Supreme Court directions, as was learnt during this meeting.
