Recognising various initiatives taken by the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board in continually improving the pilgrimage, the CNBC-AWAAZ, a Hindi business news channel, has awarded the Shrine Board with ‘Best Managed Religious Destination Award’ for 2015.
“This is for the third time that Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board has bagged the CNBC-AWAAZ Travel Award. Earlier, the Board had received this award in 2011 and 2013. This year CNBC-AWAAZ Travel Awards were presented by the Chhattisgarh Government,” said an official spokesperson of the board. The Shrine Board has been making concerted efforts to provide excellent facilities to the pilgrims visiting the cave shrine of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi, said an official spokesperson of the Board.
These facilities include accommodation, food, battery-operated vehicles, helicopter services, palanquins, ‘pithoos’ and ponies at affordable fares. Based on the feedback and using the available technology, the Shrine Board is progressively steering towards excellence in every field to largely facilitate the visiting pilgrims, he said.
There were four nominations for the Best Religious Destination Award this year and among them the jury panel selected the Shrine Board on the basis of votes of the pilgrims and the votes of the jury. The award aims to recognise and honour the best in the class organisations, destinations, infrastructure and service providers.
In addition to the helicopter services and battery-operated vehicles, a lift has also been installed at the Bhawan to particularly facilitate the old, infirm and physically challenged pilgrims. The helicopter facility provided to the pilgrims by the Shrine Board is among the most economical in the country, said the spokesperson.
The Shrine Board has also made adequate arrangements of water and power supply. A chain of bhojanalayas has been set up all along the track, in the Bhawan area and at various establishments of the Shrine Board at Katra and Jammu.
The Shrine Board has also been to keep its establishments and the track neat and clean for which a large number of safai karamcharis have been deployed. Medicare facilities have been provided along the track and in the Bhawan area with the provision of doctors, paramedics, equipment and ambulances at strategic locations. The employees of the Shrine Board have been trained and are well equipped in disaster management and can effectively handle any emergency or disaster situation through a well-established disaster management team, he added.
