Jammu: More than three lakh pilgrims paid obeisance in the first week of this month at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi cave shrine nestled in Trikuta Hills of Katra town in Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir.
Officials here on Wednesday said that with the start of the summer vacations in schools and colleges, the Katra town is witnessing a huge rush of pilgrims from across the country.
“In the first week of the current month, more than three lakh pilgrims have visited the Mata Vaishno Devi,” they said.
“The number of pilgrims is swelling sharply in view of the summer vacations,” they said.
They said that on June 1, 37,100 devotees visited the cave shrine, on June 2, 40,200, on June 3: 40,300, June 4, 40,000, June 5, 42,500, on June 6: 47,500, on June 7: 48,300 and on June 8, 48,500 devotees paid obeisance at the holy shrine.
Officials, however, said that due to heavy rush at pilgrimage registration counters, the Shrine Board had to close the registration counters early on several occasions.
On June 6, registrations were closed at 8 p.m. two hours before it’s scheduled time and similarly, on Sunday, all registration centers were closed around 7 p.m.
“Following guidelines from the National Green Tribunal (NGT), the Shrine Board cannot allow more than 50,000 pilgrims per day to undertake the yatra, so the decision to close the registration counters was taken as a preventive measure,” they said.
Meanwhile, the advance online bookings for the hotels, Katra-Sanjichhat helicopter service, Ardh Kuwari-Bhawan battery car, ropeway are almost full, they added.
“To manage the crowd, the Shrine Board is allowing devotees to have darshan through all three caves,” they said.
Moreover, the businesses in Katra–the base camp of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine–has witnessed a significant increase with a rising number of pilgrims.
Last year, the pilgrimage tourism remained hit due to the Pahalgam terrorist attack, Operation Sindoor, cloudburst and the devastating floods in the month of August.
“After a long time, Katra has witnessed a huge rush of pilgrims and it is good for the businessmen’s community,” said a local hotelier.
