Jammu: Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri Tuesday said that the Yatri Niwas in Jammu would accommodate 30,000 Amarnath yatris every year while and Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha said that the new facility would ease the lives of the yatris.
An official spokesman in a statement issued here said that speaking at the commencement of construction work for Yatri Niwas and Disaster Management Center, Union Minister Puri said that the Yatri Niwas would help in providing accommodation to 30,000 Amarnath yatris every year and would be particularly helpful for yatris from weaker sections.
He said that it would help in traffic management and ensure a seamless experience.
On the occasion, Union Minister Puri and LG Sinha performed Puja at the venue where the facility would be developed at Majeen Jammu under the CSR initiative of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) at a cost of Rs 51 crore.
The LG congratulated the Amarnath yatris, officials of Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB), all stakeholders and organisations associated with Amarnath Yatra and the people of Jammu region for the commencement of the construction work of the Yatri Niwas.
“I am immensely grateful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister Puri for SASB’s Yatri Niwas at Jammu. This new facility will ease the lives of devotees embarking on the annual Amarnath yatra,” he said.
Sinha expressed gratitude to the Union Petroleum Minister for approving 4 to 5 more Yatri Niwas under CSR initiatives for the Amarnath yatris.
“This seva of the yatris on Amarnath yatra is really appreciable,” he said.
The LG also thanked Chairman ONGC Arun Kumar Singh and lauded the Board of Directors of ONGC for their outstanding support in realising the dream of Yatri Niwas and Disaster Management Center at Jammu.
He impressed upon the executing agencies and all the workers engaged in the construction work to develop the Yatri Niwas as a centre of spirituality, which would provide divine experience to the devotees.
“Baba Amarnath’s holy pilgrimage is the highest peak of spiritual experience. The construction work of Yatri Niwas should be carried out with complete devotion and a grateful heart,” Sinha said. “Under the guidance of PM Modi, we are working with greater commitment and devotion to scale up the facilities including lodging, transportation, medical, and better connectivity for the safe and hassle-free pilgrimage of the devotees.”
He said that the DPR for Chandanwari-Panjtarni-Sangam Top-Baltal road being prepared by NHIDCL was at an advanced stage.
“On completion, this road would provide smooth passage to the yatris,” the LG said.
He said that last year, the maximum number of 3.65 lakh yatris visited the Amarnath shrine.
“One hundred twenty additional bank branches were added last year to facilitate the registration of the pilgrims and this year the registration facility is being provided through 542 branches across the country,” Sinha said.
He said that in 2021, the initiatives of online darshan, hawan, and prasad were taken to facilitate the devotees.
The LG said that the Yatri Niwas at Chandrakot, which was inaugurated in June last year, accommodated around 50,000 devotees.
He said that the work for upgradation of the yatra track had been done on a war footing and the work resumed after snow clearance in March this year.
“We are making dedicated efforts to strengthen communication connectivity. Telecommunication towers and cell on wheels are being installed by the telecom service providers, besides the Army is laying an Optical fiber cable from Sonamarg to the Amarnath Cave,” Sinha said.
Designed by the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, the Yatri Niwas is set for completion within 18 months.
Chairperson DDC Jammu Bharat Bhushan, Member of Parliament Jugal Kishore Sharma, Chief Secretary Arun Kumar Mehta, Chairman ONGC Arun Kumar Singh, and CEO SASB Padma Shri Prof Vishwa Murti Shastri were also present on the occasion.