Vaishno Devi shrine seeing massive footfall, 63 L paid obeisance so far

Jammu: Over 6 million pilgrims visited the Mata Vaishno Devi cave shrine in Trikuta Hills during the first eight months of this year, with nearly 40,000 pilgrims reaching daily at the Katra base camp in view of the ongoing Navratri festival.
Officials of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board informed that 63 lakh pilgrims had darshan at the shrine till August 31, which is record breaking as compared with previous two years, where footfall was comparatively low due to COVID pandemic.
Officials added that Mata Vaishno Devi shrine is one of the prominent religious tourism sites, which attracts a maximum number of travelers from the country and abroad. Officials said that the number of people arriving at Katra based camp has been increased to 40 thousand on a daily basis during Navratri, whereas on normal days it was between 20 to 35 thousand.
They added that this year Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Yatra may break the previous record of the last three years.
Earlier, despite COVID 55.772 lakh pilgrims visited Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in year 2021, 17.24 lakh in the year 2020 before COVID the pilgrimage was at 78.956 lakh in the year 2019, 85.956 lakh in 2018, 81.788 lakh in the year 2017, 77.22 lakh in 2016.
Religious tourism is also booming in the Jammu division where people of Shiv Khori Shrine in Reasi district witness an increase of pilgrims. So far (till August) more than 23 lakh devotees have reached Shiv Shori. Shiv Khodi was visited by 16.186 lakhs in 2021, 4.635 lakhs in the year 2020, 14.263 lakhs in the year 2019, 15.008 lakhs in the year 2018, 12.327 lakhs in the year 2017, 13.72 lakhs in the year 2016.
Similarly, the influx of pilgrims has been increasing in Shadra Sharif located in Rajouri.
Updated On 9/28/2022 12:28:50 PM