Shrine board asks pilgrims to follow do’s and don’ts
The advance registration of pilgrims for Amarnath yatra will commence tomorrow all over the country for both the Baltal and Chandanwari routes through 432 designated bank branches of Punjab National Bank, J&K Bank and Yes Bank.
This year’s 48-day yatra will commence simultaneously on both routes from July 2 and culminate on Raksha Bandhan, August 18.
In an official statement, PK Tripathi, Chief Executive Officer, Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB), said the step-by-step procedure which the pilgrims needed to follow to register for the yatra had been put on the board’s website, www.shrimarnathjishrine.com.
The website also contains the application form and state-wise list of bank branches with complete addresses which the pilgrims can approach for registering themselves for this year’s pilgrimage.
He said no pilgrim without valid registration would be allowed to undertake the pilgrimage and urged pilgrims to get themselves registered for the yatra well in advance.
He said every pilgrim would have to furnish a compulsory health certificate (CHC) while seeking registration for the yatra and the format of the CHC and a state-wise list of doctors or institutes authorised to issue such certificates had been put on the website of the shrine board.
He said for ensuring against fraudulent CHCs, only such certificates which were issued by a doctor or medical institutes authorised by the state government or UT administration concerned would be accepted at the registering bank branches.
For the yatra, only those certificates which had been issued on or after February 10 would be valid. He said the persons under the age of 13 years or above the age of 75 years and women who were more than six weeks pregnant would not be registered for this year’s pilgrimage.
The CEO said the yatra permits for this year’s pilgrimage would be different for each day of the week and route, with a differed colour coding for each day, to facilitate the police personnel deployed at the access control gates at Baltal and Chandanwari to regulate the yatra for the relevant date and route.
In this context, he cautioned the intending pilgrims against undertaking this arduous yatra without securing a pilgrim permit and the required CHC.
Tripathi stressed that for ensuring effective security arrangements along the difficult tracks, only those pilgrims who were in possession of a pilgrim permit which was valid for a specified date and route would be allowed to proceed beyond the base camps and cross the entry gates at Domel and Chandanwari.
“Pilgrims who propose to travel by helicopter do not require advance registration as their helicopter tickets will suffice for this purpose. They would be required to produce the CHC in the prescribed format and issued by an authorised doctor before they are allowed to travel by helicopter,” the CEO said.
