Jammu: The controversy around the construction of the ropeway project to Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine (SMVDS) has taken a dramatic turn, with some Sangharsh Samiti members demanding the disbanding of the shrine board and handing over its affairs to Sanatan Dharam authorities. They alleged the board had failed to meet the expectations of the devotees.
“The Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board (SMVDSB) is being run by the Lieutenant Governor, IAS officers and other officials and the government is earning crores of rupees. They don’t care about the religious sentiments of the people associated with the pilgrimage,” said Jugal Kishore Sharma, former MP and a member of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Sangharsh Samiti. “It is better to create a board led by saints of Sanatan Dharam and people of the area like Ayodhya where the government has no control over the affairs of the shrine,” he said.
Sharma said that the board hadn’t done any good to the cause of Sanatan Dharam as the construction of a ropeway would demean the purpose of the Yatra which has a traditional and religious history attached to it. “On the traditional route, Mata Vaishno Devi has prayed for months together before settling at the final abode in Sanctum Santorum,” he claimed.
The shutdown against the project in the Trikuta Hills of the Reasi district entered its fourth day on Saturday. Protesters also are observing a hunger strike against the detention of some people by the police.
Meanwhile, the Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industries (JCCI) has extended its support to the Sangharsh Samiti, urging the administration to resolve the issue through dialogue with all the stakeholders.
Since December 25, life in Katra town, the base camp of the SMVDS, has come to a standstill after the Sangharsh Samiti, which spearheading anti-ropeway agitation, called a 72-hour-long shutdown and extended it for another 72 hours demanding the cancellation of the ropeway project, taking the New Delhi-Amritsar-Katra expressway through Katra town and releasing all the arrested members of the Samiti.
Even people at the protest site at Shalimar Park in Katra town have been raising slogans against the shrine board and have demanded handing over the affairs to Sanatan Dharam authorities.
SMVDS is situated in the Trikuta Hills of the Shivalik range near Katra town of Reasi district in Jammu and Kashmir. Every year around 10 million devotees visit the shrine to pay their obeisance. To reach the shrine, devotees have to trek a 13-kilometer-long treacherous stretch which at times gets closed due to landslides in the rainy season. During winter snow also lashes the area, and during the year-end, the rush of devotees increases tremendously.
To make the journey easy for devotees, the shrine board has taken many steps like the introduction of a chopper service, battery cars and a motorable road through which goods are taken to the shrine.
Now, to improve the journey further, the shrine board has decided to construct a ropeway from Tarakote Marg to the Sanjichat area which will allow every devotee to reach the shrine in less time and complete the pilgrimage in a couple of hours instead of spending the whole day.
But since the basic work of the ropeway was started, the people of Katra, whose business is dependent on the pilgrimage and many labourers who earn their livelihood by carrying the pilgrims on ponies and palanquins, fear that they will lose their livelihood. Through this pilgrimage, many Muslim families of the Reasi district also earn their livelihood.
Now, the demand for disbanding the shrine board is being raised apart from stopping the construction of the ropeway.
Meanwhile, several political parties have also reacted over the issue including the ruling National Conference (NC) and Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Jammu and Kashmir unit.
The Provincial President of the NC Rattan Lal Gupta alleged that the proposed ropeway would severely impact the livelihood of locals and the religious significance of the pilgrimage.
“The project will not only affect the sanctity of the pilgrimage but will also disrupt the livelihoods of more than 50,000 people, including traders, Pithus, pony wallahs, Palki wallahs, and shopkeepers, who are directly or indirectly linked to the pilgrimage economy,” he said in a statement.
Gupta urged both the shrine board and the central government to immediately halt the project.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) Jammu and Kashmir unit termed the ropeway project an “attack on religious faith”. “While efforts are made to restore religious sites of other faiths, here, under the guise of modernization, the essence of our sacred pilgrimage is being bulldozed,” the party’s J&K president Manish Sahni said.
He also criticised the use of police force to suppress the voices of Hindus, asserting that the shrine board must abandon its “stubborn approach” of compromising the sanctity of the pilgrimage. Sahni also questioned the silence of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, who claim to champion Hindu causes, regarding the preservation of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Yatra’s sanctity. (With inputs from Mohd Ashraf Ganie)
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