Malerkotla volunteers distribute helmets for safety of Amarnath Yatra pilgrims

Malerkotla, July 7

Following in the footsteps of a Malwa religious organisation that organised a ‘langar’ of safety helmets at Baltal during the Amarnath pilgrimage, Malerkotla district enthusiasts have announced that they would also provide safety gadgets to langar organisers.

In addition to providing first-aid kits and portable oxygen cylinders to those organising langars at Amarnath, Kedarnath and Badrinath, the organisers plan to distribute these to pilgrims.

Mahant Swaroop Bihari Sharma and Deepak Sharma, All India Brahmin Front office-bearers, announced that they have decided to contribute safety gadgets for pilgrimages to the aforementioned shrines after learning about a unique camp organised at Domail Baltal base camp, where devotees are required to wear safety helmets provided by the Jai Baba Amarnath Swami Langar Committee from Sangrur.

Kewal Krishan and Priyavarat informed the local enthusiasts that the safety helmet langar at Domail Baltal Base Camp had saved many pilgrims who had returned with hard caps and cracked tops, indicating that heavy stones had struck their heads during the journey.

The organisers have stocked approximately 10,000 helmets at the langar site, which are issued to pilgrims for journeys, with nearly 70 per cent of these being returned during the return journey.

“As some pilgrims take alternative routes on the return journey, we assumed that they threw their helmets after completing the hilly area journey,” said Priyavart, adding that new stocks are added in response to SOS calls from volunteers managing the camp.

The administration at the Baltal was so impressed by the organisers’ concern for pilgrim safety that the association was honoured during the Independence Day function on August 15, 2023.

Enthusiasts from the district were meeting with office-bearers at a private hospital in Ahmedgarh on their way back from the Amarnath caves when their vehicle was involved in an accident on the Ludhiana Malerkotla Road today.

“Believing that the occupants of the ill-fated vehicles were saved due to their service to humanity, we decided to take another initiative to make pilgrimages safer,” said Deepak Sharma.