No arrangements, for yatris SASB ‘a disaster’
Syed Basharat
BALTAL-SONMARAG, Jul 4: Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) may be a caretaker body for Yatris who visit the holy cave after traveling thousands of kilometers from different parts of India but the Hindu pilgrims have a different take on Board’s functioning. They want government to undertake the responsibility of Yatra, terming the SASB ‘a disaster’.
Surinder Sharma from Jalandhar Punjab is aghast over Board’s arrangement. He
said, “There is no arrangement by SASB as was publicised and we heard before
leaving for this holy pilgrimage.” Sharma, seconded by Dar Kakar, from the same
place added that refill of an LPG cylinder costs Rs. 1270.
A furious Dr Kakar complains of poor sanitation, scarcity of drinking water and
lack of healthcare facilities. “There is no drainage and all the garbage and
sewerage is littered near tents in which Yatris rest. Patients care is nil and
we take our patients to Srinagar for treatment. The ambulance takes Rs 1650 to
ferry a patient to Srinagar. You can imagine the facilities made available by
the Shrine Board,” remarked Dr Kakar.
On the other hand, helicopter services available at Baltal have pinched the
Yatris who had booked their seats two months prior to scheduled date of Yatra.
Agarwaal family from Jaipur is all fire at the helicopter services saying that
they would file a suit against it after their return.
“We had booked four helicopter seats with payment in advance before two months
to the scheduled date of Yatra. However, the authorities at the helm here
troubled us by not accommodating us on our given date. Freshers are given
boarding cards and we who had booked seats in advance have no priority,” said G
P Agarwaal who had booked seats for his two sons and wife Satya Agarwaal.
He added that government should take the responsibility of Yatra and Shrine
Board be dissolved. “When you are not able to cater to a few hundred helicopter
passengers how can we expect you to cater to millions of Yatris who come here
with huge expectations. Better to dissolve this Board and handover the Yatra to the state government,” Agarwaal added.
His wife pleaded that despite requesting army personnel and authorities at the
cave to help her, nobody came forward. “First the helicopter service officials
called us at 8 AM and the boarding cards were issued at 2 PM only. When we
finished our worship at Cave the helicopter service officials were supposed to
bring us back to Baltal but we were left at t he cave without giving us any
reason,” said Satya Agarwaal. At Shri Amarnath cave, she had to pass the night
without shelter, warm clothes or sleep. “My whole body was chilling. You can
imagine passing a night at glacier that too without proper clothes, even without
a sweater. I pleaded before army personnel to motivate helicopter service
officials to honour her return ticket but all in vain. Despite return tickets I
along with my husband and two sons were stuck at the cave and the next day at
5:30 A M we were ferried back,” she added.
Some of the Yatris appealed to the government to depute some teams who would
monitor the facilities provided to Yatris. “There is no water available for
lavatories. Piles of garbage can be seen scattered everywhere. Essential
commodities are being sold at exorbitant rates. There is no fuel available in
the market,” said a Yatri Kishen Chand, from Punjab.