NGT slams Amarnath shrine board over lack of amenities

Days after setting a cap of 50,000 devotees a day at Vaishno Devi for their safety and security, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) pulled up the Amarnath shrine board on Wednesday for lack of proper infrastructure and facilities for pilgrims. It also constituted an expert panel, headed by Additional Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), to visit the shrine and report back an action plan to improve the existing facilities.

"You have allowed shops on path near the shrine. There are no proper facilities for toilets. Do you even know how humiliating this is for women? Why have you not provided proper infrastructural facilities for pilgrims? You are giving priority to commercial activities over pilgrims. This is unfair. The sanctity of the shrine has to be maintained," said a bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar. The bench was hearing a plea filed by environment activist Gauri Maulekhi.

The bench directed the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board to submit a report by the first week of December on compliance of the Supreme Court's directions, passed in 2012. Further, the bench directed that the expert panel's report should address the issues of waste management, declaration of a silence zone near the shrine and establishment of eco-friendly toilets. Srinagar-based Centre for Research and Development Policy has said that over 2,500 metric tons of solid waste is generated annually along the Lidder river.

The green court also expressed displeasure on the non-compliance of directions passed by the Supreme Court, which had passed similar orders on improving security of pilgrims visiting the holy site in light of casualties. In 2012, Justice Kumar was also part of the Supreme Court bench that passed directions on the issue and had constituted a high-level committee to suggest measures for improving amenities.

The Amarnath shrine is one of the holiest sites for Hindus with a Shiva Linga inside a cave that is covered in snow except during summer months. Pilgrims undertake the annual 40-day Amarnath Yatra on foot, horses or are carried by porters to the cave that is located in a gorge at the end of Lidder Valley at a height of 3,888m, 46 km from Pahalgam and 14 km from Baltal. This year, 2.6 lakh pilgrims visited the shrine.