Jammu (Jammu and Kashmir): Nearly five months after the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Yatra was suspended as a precautionary measure amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Jammu and Kashmir administration announced that the Yatra would be resumed on August 16.
The Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board had begun preparations of the resumption of the Yatra months in advance. The temple premises are being regularly sanitised and all the norms amid the COVID-19 pandemic are in place to welcome pilgrims.
The administration has set guidelines for the pilgrims visiting the shrine. A maximum of 500 pilgrims per day will be permitted in a graded manner from outside Jammu and Kashmir. Registration of pilgrims should be made only through online mode, in order to avoid any assembly of persons at current counters.
Mata Vaisno Devi suspended
Welcoming the decision to re-open the shrine, a Katra resident said that with this employment will return to the temple town. However, he also said that the government should allow more people to the shrine from outside the Union Territory if they produce a COVID-19 negative certificate.
Earlier on March 19, the Jammu and Kashmir administration announced closure of the Vaishno Devi yatra and banning of all interstate buses as part of the precautionary measures to arrest the spread of coronavirus.
“Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Yatra has been closed from today. Operations of all interstate buses — incoming and outgoing from Jammu and Kashmir, banned from today,” the Jammu and Kashmir Director of Information and Public Relations (DIPR) said in a tweet.
