STATE TIMES NEWS
SRINAGAR: Pooja to mark the closing of the annual pilgrimage to the Holy Cave Shrine of Shri Amarnathji, on Shravan Purnima, was held on Monday morning, amid chanting of religious hymns.
Umang Narula, Chief Executive Officer, and Jitendra Kumar Singh, Additional CEO, SASB, Shrine Board prayed at the Holy Cave for sustained peace, harmony, progress and prosperity in the State.
Today evening, on the formal closure of the Yatra, Governor N.N. Vohra, Chairman of the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board, chaired a review meeting with CEO and other concerned officers. CEO informed that 2,60,003 Yatris had paid obeisance at the Holy Cave Shrine during this year’s 40 days pilgrimage, which had commenced on June 29 along both the Baltal and the Pahalgam routes.
Governor expressed sadness over the death of 29 persons in this Year’s pilgrimage, within the Yatra area. Those who lost their lives were pilgrims, service providers and others, of whom 3 died due to accidents and 26 due to medical failures. Governor conveyed his heartfelt sympathy to the families of 8 pilgrims who lost their lives in a terrorist attack on a bus carrying pilgrims and to the next of kin of 17 Yatris who were killed in a road accident in Ramban district. He stressed on the need for identifying fresh and further measures which could perhaps prevent the loss of precious lives in the future Yatras.