Helicopter fare For Amarnath Yatra From Panjtarni Baltal is Rs.3800 and Rs.2425

June 3, 2010 - PRLog -- Holy cave shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi ji has been witnessing heavy rush of pilgrims these days mainly due to summer vacations across the country. About 35,000 pilgrims have been reaching Katra, base camp of the shrine, during weekends and 25,000 to 30,000 during other days.
http://www.jammu-kashmir-ladakh.com/pilgrimage/amarnath-yatra.html
Yatra during first five months of this year has gone up by about 4 lakh as compared to corresponding period last year.

Pilgrimage up to May 31 this year stood at 33.16 lakh while number of yatris who visited the cave shrine in Trikuta hills during same period last year was 29.26 lakh, Additional CEO SMVDSB Dr Mandeep Bhandari said, adding that that yatra has gone up by 3.90 lakhs during five months.

Last year, about 82 lakh pilgrims had performed darshan of Goddess Vaishno Devi, the highest ever so far. If all goes well, the authorities this year were expecting yatra to touch or close around 9 million mark, which would be an all time record.

In the month of May alone, number of the yatris visiting Vaishno Devi Bhawan has increased by 1 lakh as compared to last year. Dr Bhandari said 9.14 lakh yatris had darshan in the cave shrine during the month of May while the number previous year was 8.15 lakh.

The SMVDSB authorities were anticipating heavy rush during June and July, the two months of summer vacations. With the opening of third cave at the Bhawan, the pilgrims were having a better view of natural pindies of the Goddess. Number of the pilgrims having darshan at the shrine per hour has also slightly gone up from the third cave tunnel.
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However, heavy influx of pilgrims to the shrine has also led to shortage of drinking water at some places on 13 kms Katra-Bhawan track.

Sources said the PHE Department has assured SMVDSB authorities about the completion of Siar Dabri-Adh Kunwari water supply scheme this month. If the scheme is commissioned well in time, it would add two lakh gallons water per day and would overcome water shortage up to Adh-Kunwari completely, they added.

Another water supply scheme Siar Dabri to Bhawan will take about two years to complete, which will overcome water shortage on the track, which is felt during two to three months of summer only.

Meanwhile, SMVDSB authorities, Katra police and CRPF today reviewed security arrangements for Mata Vaishno Devi shrine, 13 km track and the base camp in a joint meeting held in Katra town.

In the meeting, officers of all three security agencies passed instructions to hoteliers, lodge owners, police and private security personnel and other concerned persons on keeping a strict vigil at all sensitive points to ensure that the anti-national elements didn’t manage to sneak in taking advantage of heavy rush of the yatris.

The meeting among others was attended by DIG Udhampur-Reasi range Gulzar Singh Slathia, Additional CEO SMVDSB Dr Mandeep Bhandari, SSP Reasi Anand Jain, SP Katra Shiv Kumar Sharma, Deputy Commandant CRPF 6th battalion and officers of other concerned agencies. Sunil Gupta, AO, Police Headquarters Udhampur, briefed the security personnel on measures to be adopted during security situation.

With 8.2 million pilgrims visiting the holy cave shrine last year and the yatra during first five months of this year going up by 3.90 lakh as compared to corresponding period last year, the authorities were confident that a heavy rush of pilgrims was expected to the shrine this year which could take yatra close to 9 million mark.

http://alljknews.blogspot.com/2011/07/yatra-suspended-due...

In January this year, 3.99 lakh yatris visited the shrine as against 4.14 lakh last year while the number in February stood at 3.77 lakh against 2.97 lakh previous year. In March, number of the pilgrims went up to 7.22 lakh as against 6.73 lakh last year. In April, 8.78 lakh yatris performed darshan at the cave shrine against 6.99 lakh last year.