Srinagar, August 21
The annual pilgrimage to the holy cave shrine of Amarnath concluded amid chanting of religious hymns and performing of pooja on the occasion of Shravan Purnima today.

Governor NN Vohra, who is also the chairman of the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB), was scheduled to visit at the cave shrine, but he could not reach there due to rain and poor visibility beyond Sonamarg, an official statement said.

Expressing satisfaction over the smooth conduct of this year’s yatra, the Governor thanked the state government, the Army, the CRPF, the BSF, the ITBP, the police, the BSNL, five banks involved in the registration of pilgrims and all other organisations concerned, particularly the Indian Meteorological Department, and the people of the state, for their contribution to the organisation of the yatra.

Shravan Purnima, which coincides with Raksha Bandhan, witnessed religious fervour with the arrival of the Holy Mace of Lord Shiva at the holy cave, situated at a height of 3,880 m, after a night halt at Panjtarni. Mahant Deependra Giri, accompanied by a large number of sadhus, carried the Holy Mace, popularly known as “Charri Mubarak”, and performed pooja at the shrine in the morning.

For several months before the commencement of the yatra on June 28 and during the course of the pilgrimage, the Governor had made several visits to the yatra area, including aerial reconnaissance of the yatra routes besides visiting all camps. He had been monitoring the yatra on daily basis. The Governor has asked CEO of the shrine board Navin K Choudhary to coordinate with the Pahalgam Municipal Committee and the CEOs of the Sonamarg and Pahalgam development authorities to launch a post-yatra sanitation drive to ensure that the entire yatra area was cleaned up over the next few days.

He also reiterated his earlier directions about the complete cleaning up of all camp sites. The Governor would undertake a visit of the entire yatra area over the next few days to take stock of the cleanliness drive.

The CEO said 3.54 lakh yatris paid obeisance at the cave shrine this year. Referring to various “speculative media reports” about the reduced scale of this year’s yatra, the CEO said among the several influencing factors was the Uttarakhand disaster, following which the tourist and pilgrim traffic to all hill states had witnessed a sharp decline. The Mata Vaishno Devi pilgrimage had also been affected. The number of yatris this year was about seven lakh less than that during the corresponding period last year, he added. Statements about perceived threats of terror attacks and the emerging law and order scenarios also had their effect, he added.

The CEO said 13 yatris lost their lives during the yatra this year.