Instructs departments for proper facilities to pilgrims
STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Rolling up its sleeves for the upcoming annual Amarnath pilgrimage, the Mayor of Jammu city, Rajinder Sharma on Wednesday reviewed the arrangements for the revered religious event starting on July 1 this year during a meeting with senior officers of different departments.
Issues of sanitation, boarding and lodging of visiting pilgrims, water and power supply, transportation, law and order situation along with wide range of other things were discussed in the meeting.
This time the Mayor has roped in the Tourism Department and the Department of Art, Culture and Languages which has been asked to organize programmes at different locations associated with the stay of pilgrims and Yatra.
The Mayor instructed SRTC to collaborate with Tourism Department to deploy buses at different tourist spots of Jammu like newly build Bala Ji Temple, Bagh-e-Bahu, laser show, musical fountain, Fort Shrine of Bawe Wali Matya, aquarium, Har Ki Pouri, Balidan Stambh, Suchetgarh Border Parade, Gharana Wetland, Surinsar and Mansar Lakes, Gondola, Mahamaya Mandir and park there, Jia Pota, Raghunath Ji temple, Mubarak Mandi complex and museum etc.
He said that fare will be charged from the visiting tourists for visiting these places.
“All the Sabhas and Societies will accommodate the visiting pilgrims in their community halls while at the main base camp of the Yatra at Bhagwati Nagar, big display will show details of tourism places of Jammu along with packages for visiting these places,” the Mayor maintained.
He said that small packages will be made in this regard and this is being done to boost the economic vibrancy of Jammu city and this is a right step in right direction demand for this was raised many times by the Standing Committees and also by some organizations of Jammu city.
The Mayor said that surprise checks by him along with the entire JMC team will ensure that the pilgrims face no problem during their stay in Jammu.
“The checks might be at late night hours to ensure all the required facilities to the visiting pilgrims and ensure that they face no problem as they will be our esteemed guests,” he said.
Sharma ensured that no stone will be left unturned to ensure facilities like proper bathrooms, toilets and other facilities at the Community Halls where the visiting pilgrims will stay in Jammu.
He said that JMC will repairing about 500 toilets at places associated with the Yatra and will place dustbins at required places associated with the holy pilgrimage.
“JMC will make 256 temporary prefab toilets, 69 bathrooms and 80 urinals to facilitate the pilgrims. For places where there is no place for prefab toilets, JMC will place about 50 mobile toilets. Some 400 extra Safai Karamcharis will be deputed for facilitating Yatra,” the Mayor said.
He also said that big boards will be placed outside the Community Halls and at other places where the Yatris will stay during their visit instructing them to avoid using plastic and polythene materials.
The Mayor said that the pilgrims may feel at home in Jammu due to the Dogra hospitality and asked Langarwalas to avoid single use plastic in their works during the pilgrimage period.
The meeting was attended by Rahul Yadav, Commissioner JMC; Pardeep Kumar, Director, Archives, Archaeology & Museums Jammu; Umesh Shan, Deputy Director, Tourism, Jammu; Kulbir Handa, Superintendent of Police (City), Jammu; Charanjeet Singh, Deputy Superintendent of Police (Traffic), Jammu; Amit, Executive Engineer, Mubarak Mandi Jammu Heritage Society; Tejinder Singh, Traffic Manager, JKRTC, Jammu; Shah Nawaz, Cultural Office, Academy of Art, Culture & Languages, Jammu; Kulbushan Khajuria, Joint Commissioner (H&S), JMC; Raj Kumar Raina, Deputy Director, Fire & Emergency Services, Jammu; Saleem Sabh, Superintending Engineer, R&B (PWD), Jammu; Rajinder Gupta, Superintending Engineer, JPDCL, Jammu; Sandeep Dogra, Superintending Engineer, Jal Shakti Department, Jammu; Shiv Kumar Gupta, Executive Engineer, UEED, Jammu and Vinod Sharma, Health Officer, JMC.