Making yatra better
The four children accompanying the 10-member Chaturvedi family from Mathura are beaming with joy at the prospect of their first ropeway ride from the Bhavan to Baba Bhairon temple. The annual visit to the shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi is a much-awaited trip for the Chaturvedis, particularly the women, as that is the time when they get an opportunity to travel out together. At merely Rs 100, the ropeway ride doesn’t pinch, says Atul Chaturvedi (45) while his sister-in-law Alka (51) is happy that the two-minute ride would make it easier for her to visit the Bhairon temple. The family took the recently opened Tarakote route, meant only for pedestrians, to reach the Bhavan.
Sixty-year-old Gangasaran Sharma from Amroha district in UP, however, preferred to take the old route to the Bhavan as he wanted to avail of the battery car facility available for senior citizens from Ardhkumari. “At Rs 354 per journey, the battery car offers a comfortable journey. The return trip costs Rs 236,” he says as he gets himself a blanket issued for a refundable security of Rs 100 at one of the counters.
“Of late, it had become tough for me to undertake the journey by foot but the helicopter facility, priced at merely Rs 1,050, from Katra till Sanjichatt one side, has made it convenient to reach the shrine,” says Shakuntala Sharma (73) from Jammu. “The online booking, however, had to be managed well in advance,” she adds.
Facilities for pilgrims
The shrine was adjudged the best managed religious destination, besides being conferred with the Safaigiri Awards last year. Since the constitution of the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board (SMVDSB) in 1986, many new initiatives have been taken for the benefit of the pilgrims. From 13.95 lakh, the number of yatris visiting the shrine has gone up to 85 lakh. And so have the facilities. All routes from Katra to Bhavan are equipped with state-of-the-art facilities like RO-filtered drinking water kiosks, reverse vending machines, bhojanalyas offering hygienically prepared food, tin sheds, clean waterless urinals, etc. The new Tarakote route even offers langar facility to yatris. Seven well-equipped medical centres en route operate 24×7 to take care of any medical exigencies. The shrine board has taken control of the ponywallahs too. Booking for a pony can be only made at the pre-paid counters. This has helped check harassment of customers. The ponies are allowed to ply only after certified health check-ups. These have been inserted with micro chips to keep track.
The online booking system has facilitated the availability of helicopter service, battery cars, aarti darshan as well as booking of rooms. The website has a feedback box where one can register complaints and offer suggestions.
Bengaluru-based Somnath Mishra, who works with E&Y, has been using the online facility for making the booking but feels that a lot needs to be done as the same wasn’t as streamlined at the back end.
According to Amit Vermani, Deputy CEO of the Shrine Board, “We are operating at a very large scale. It does take time as it’s like trying to repair a running engine. At our end, we are trying to check these hiccups and make the journey comfortable for the pilgrims.”
Environment-friendly initiatives
Recently declared the best Swachh iconic place in India, the SMVDSB, which has been managing the functioning of the shrine, has started many eco-friendly initiatives:
• To discourage the use of packaged water, 55 water ATMs or kiosks have been installed to offer RO-purified water. These water kiosks are monitored and cleaned on a regular basis.
• In collaboration with the IOCL, as many as 50 reverse vending machines, which collect and dispose of plastic PET bottles, have been put up at various places along the route.
• The waterless urinals have been saving an average of 10,000 to 12,500 litres of water per month.
• Several Sewerage Treatment Plant (STPs) are treating sewage and not letting that flow on to the mountains.
• The treated water is being used for toilets as well as fire hydrants, particularly to douse fires along the Himkoti Marg, besides maintenance of the turf and lawns at the shrine board’s sports complex.
• The bio waste from ponies is turned into manure at the equid dung management centre. It is being distributed to farmers from nearby villages as well as the Army free of cost.
• Kill waste machine, under approval of the Pollution Control Board, has been installed which burns solid waste to ash.
