Jammu. The base camp has returned to the city of Katra due to the increase in the number of pilgrims in the Devasthan Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Bhavan, situated in the Trikuta hills of Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir. Significantly, there was a sudden decline in the number of devotees visiting the Vaishno Devi Yatra since the terrorist attack in Pahalgam on 22 April and the Operation Sindoor started by India.
Meanwhile, the Shrine Board official said that the number of passengers has started increasing for the last one week. With this increase, about 18000 to 20000 pilgrims are reaching Katra every day to visit the building. He said that along with tight security, the Shrine Board has also made extensive arrangements for the pilgrims, which is catching pilgrimage and after about a month, the number of devotees has crossed 20000 here.
The trading in Katra was largely affected in Katra after the Pahalgam terror attack last month, although the Shrine Board and the religious bodies as well as the traders community hopes that the number of devotees will increase further during the summer holidays in schools across the country. On May 22, on the instructions of the Chairman of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, the Integrated Command and Control Center (ICCC) have also started operating at the Spiritual Development Center Katra to increase the security of pilgrims.
The official spokesperson has said that this state -of -the -art facility uses a network of 700 CCTV cameras which are equipped with advanced features such as gesture, facial identification and PTZ. This makes the correct decision making process of monitoring the right manes for the correct decision making and quick response mechanisms in the pilgrimage area. Particularly taking advantage of advanced techniques such as ICCC monitoring system, data analytics and communication networks, the safety of pilgrims can be further cleared.
Earlier, the Shrine Board also offered free facilities to take pilgrims coming from across the country to the sanctum sanctorum of the temple. To increase the number of pilgrims, the Shrine Board has provided many facilities free of cost to pilgrims from Katra, including free Aarti Darshan and Housing, while food counters were also installed at various places at Banganga and Katra railway stations on the way to the building. He said that the Shrine Board has also announced a free housing facility for the devotees at the Ashirwad Complex in Katra.
Meanwhile, 155423 devotees visited the cave temple till mid -15 May, although 45,430 pilgrims prayed at the cave temple from 06 to 13 May during the growing tension between India and Pakistan. During the Navratras in April this year, more than 3.5 lakh pilgrims and more than 25 lakh pilgrims visited Sri Mata Vaishno Devi Temple by mid -April.
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