The Amarnath pilgrims, who are returning from the holy cave, say though the government has fixed the rates for services, they have to pay hefty amount of money to avail them during the yatra.
“The ponywallahs and porters charge as per their wish; if we try to bargain they simply refuse to provide the service,” says Vijay Kumar, a resident of New Delhi.
“There is total lawlessness. Even the police is not taking any action against the violators,” he adds.
The pilgrims say the people who have installed tents to give it on rent indulge in overcharging and the pilgrims are left with no option but to pay the amount.
Though the government had fixed a rent of Rs 120 per person per night but most of pilgrims say they had to pay more than Rs 10,000 to hire a tent for their family.
“As they see the rush of pilgrims they auction the tent,” said Mukesh Mahajan, a resident of Punjab.
The government has fixed an amount of Rs 2,800 as pony rent but the pilgrims say that the ponywallahs charge them more than Rs 6,000.
Arun Kumar, CEO of the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board, told The Tribune, “We can do nothing in this regard as this is the duty of the district administration, if there is any complaint it should be brought into the notice of civil administration and action needs to be taken against the guilty.”
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No one cares- Amarnath Yatra is tale of terror
Amarnath pilgrims from Kangra district, who visited the shrine on Sunday last, arrived here with a bitter experience. They were allegedly attacked by a mob at Baltal on July 1. Pilgrims alleged that their vehicles were damaged and the Jammu and Kashmir police was a mute spectator.
Ravi Kant Dogra, Sanjay Sharma and Suresh Rana, residents of Nagrota Bagwan, in a joint press conference here today, said on July 1, a mob at Baltal beat up pilgrims, damaged their vehicles and forced them to raise slogans of ‘Pakistan Zindabad’.
They alleged that the Jammu and Kashmir Police was a mute spectator.
They complained that pilgrims were charged Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 per person for getting shelter in a tent near the cave on June 29. At Baltal, cost of a Bislery water bottle was Rs 46 and 250 ml milk packet was Rs 40, they said.
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Amarnath Yatra- suspended again
The Amarnath yatra was suspended for the second consecutive day today owing to the heavy rush of pilgrims.
The authorities had stopped the yatra yesterday after a glacier caved in at Sangam, the point where two routes from Pahalgam and Baltal meet.
They said there were already a large number of people who had left base camps and on the way to the holy cave.
“The roads are slippery and we will let pilgrims proceed from the base camps when the crowd ahead eases up,” officials said.
A record number of pilgrims, over 2.84 lakhs, have paid obeisance at the shrine ever since the yatra commenced June 18.
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Now it is OK
People died, cried and media reported. Ultimately multi million yatra came in laps of Govt. which is not providing every facility possible for visitors.
Wish we could have saved those who died due to negligence !