CS reviews the yatra arrangements at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi

Compliments the management for expeditious implementation of all the recommended measures

SRINAGAR, October 22: To streamline yatra and provide optimal pilgrimage experience of the Holy Shrine, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board (SMVDSB) has adopted new Paradigm by enhancing crowd management measures. This was observed  in a meeting chaired by the Chief Secretary, Dr Arun Kumar Mehta and attended by ACS Home, Raj Kumar Goyal; ACS, Jal Shakti, Shaleen Kabra; Commissioner Secretary, GAD, Sanjeev Verma; Secretary Law, Achal Sethi;  CEO, SMVDSB, Anshul Garg besides other officers.

The meeting was convened to deliberate on the implementation of the  recommendations of the Committee constituted vide Government Order No.01-JK(GAD) of 2022 dated 01.01.2022. The Chief Secretary,  assessed the implementation of each of the recommendation made by the Committee and expressed satisfaction at the progress achieved.

On the sidelines of the meeting, Anshul Garg, CEO of the Shrine Board, provided a comprehensive overview of the immediate, short-term and long-term measures undertaken to enhance the management of the pilgrimage from Katra to the holy cave stating that the Board has made concerted efforts for adoption of a number of emerging technologies and robust response mechanisms for introduction of state-of-the-art facilities.

 These include several  administrative and the infrastructural measures like introduction of RFID technology based yatra card for effective and real-time monitoring of yatra by laying a network of more than 700 CCTV cameras in the Shrine area, curtailment of duration of Aarti both during morning and evening time, introduction of Beat System at various locations of Bhawan by deploying joint teams of stakeholders viz. Board’s staff, JKP and CRPF. Besides, strengthening of Disaster Management Task Force of SMVDSB and fire safety measures.

CEO further apprised the chair that the Shrine Board has developed and continually upgrading the pilgrim-centric facilities and in this context, efforts are being made to create various major infrastructure development projects enroute which includes the commissioning of Durga Bhawan, Parvati Bhawan and Skywalk at Bhawan besides, augmenting and creation of new holding areas on the track including at Adhkuwari.

He further added that, on similar lines Shrine Board has introduced various digital initiatives by installation of Self- Serve Kiosk machines, QR codes, EDC machines, UPI payments and also on-boarding to popular digital platforms for donations and sale of Prasad of the front-end, services of Helicopter, Battery Car bookings for the facilitation of the pilgrims and also improved administrative efficiencies through digital records and real time reporting fuelled by ERP modules, Next Gen Website and upgraded Call Centre for its various operations which is serving as an interface for the pilgrims.

In addition, he informed about the installation of hi-tech multipurpose video walls at various locations on the track for enabling /dissemination of real-time information to the visiting pilgrims with regard to the Yatra, Live Darshans /Atka Arti, advisory/display features (24X7) regarding Disaster Prone Locations on the track, besides, early warnings of weather forecast.

The chair took note of the reported position and observed that all the recommendations of the committee have been implemented including the technology based interventions in a short span of time for the facilitation of the pilgrims. On the sidelines of this meeting he also appreciated the efforts in delivering the high quality services in easily accessible, efficient and user friendly manner to the pilgrims and making the journey of yatris remarkable and memorable.