BANGALORE JAN 3,2021: A day after 12 piligrims died ina stampede, the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine  Board on Sunday decided that bookings for the yatra to the shrine can only be done online.

At present, pilgrims undertaking the 13-km trek can either get their yatra slips issued online or on their arrival at Katra town. A Shrine Board official said that while on an average, only 2,000 daily yatra slips are issued online, around 28,000 are issued to pilgrims on their arrival at Katra.

 Meanwhile, Katra town, the base camp for the yatra in the Trikuta Hills, was largely deserted on Sunday. The teeming crowds of the past three days — outside the Shrine Board’s counters at the bus stand and near Trikuta Bhawan, and at the Niharika building complex, which houses rooms and dormitories for pilgrims — had thinned out.

Only a day earlier, there had been long queues of pilgrims seeking yatra slips — a mandatory requirement for all those embarking on the trek — at the Board’s counters. Sources said that from 5 am till 1 pm, only 11,000 pilgrims had sought yatra slips, while 24,990 pilgrims had proceeded to the shrine on Saturday.

https://www.maavaishnodevi.org/

By: Anisa