THE state, as well as the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board cannot be impervious to the pilgrim’s distress. It is very pathetic to know that many precious lives have been lost by those who undertook holy Yatra to Amarnath, to fulfil their lifelong desire of having darshan of the sacred deity at that holy abode. The casualty of figures that appear set to create a distressing record has evoked great concern. More than 100 pilgrims so far have died since the annual Yatra to the high altitude cave shrine in South Kashmir was thrown open just over a month ago. Indeed this year’s toll may exceed the earlier record of 107 casualties in 2011, 78 in 2010 and 42 in 2009. And yet, it is feared that the final toll may go further up.
That many pilgrims taking the faith trip lose their lives is ironical. The trip to the holy shrine involves an arduous track along a narrow path to reach an altitude of about 12,755 feet. Most of the deaths have been attributed to lack of acclimatization, high-altitude sickness, bogus health certificates and systematic failure. But callousness on the part of the state government as well as the SASB is the biggest cause responsible for the unsafe journey of thousands of pilgrims across the country. These tragic and unfortunate deaths have once again put the spotlight on the level of arrangements which leave much to be desired. Another crucial factor that could contribute to the deaths of pilgrims is that the yatra duration has been squeezed drastically from the usual 60 days to 39 days. This makes the yatris wait for two days to five days in the queuing system in high-altitude areas with heavy rains and extremely cold weather. Dearth of oxygen in the rarefied high altitude atmosphere to which the devotees are exposed may also be one of the reasons for the toll to overshoot acceptable limits.
The 37-day long pilgrimage to the holy cave began on June 25 and is expected to end by August 2 on Raksha Bandan. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has linked the unprecedented deaths to the issues of age, poor fitness levels and lack of acclimatization. But there is also a case to put in place some concrete measures to ensure the safety of pilgrims. It must be mandatory to subject the pilgrims to a multistage health screening before a yatra to prevent them from proceeding further if not found to be able to cope. Arrangements have to be enhanced for the heavy rush of yatris. There is need to put in place medical assistance counters all along the route so that pilgrims can be checked again for any medical problems so that deaths are prevented. If deathcount of pilgrims is an indication, both the J&K government, as well as the shrine board is to be blamed for not trying to save the life of the pilgrims. But shockingly we have not heard a single word of condolence from the CM on these deaths. On top of it, the Home Minister Mr Chidambaram has chosen silence on the issue and not sought any report on the matter.
Apart from the role of the government or lack of it, we need to question the role of the SASB. One may rightly ask-What the Amarnath Board is doing? With the number of Amarnath yatra pilgrims rising by the year, the revenue of the board is also increasing. But they are not even providing basic facilities to pilgrims. This has been disclosed by the pilgrims themselves who say that board officials are just doing their duty by collecting bodies. On the contrary, the shrine board officials seem satisfied with yatra management despite so many deaths. They have expressed satisfaction over the efforts made under the government’s sustained direction for ensuring satisfactory management of pilgrims. It needs to be mentioned here that Hemkunt Sahib, a Sikh religious place is approximately on the same height but there is far less percentage of casualties there. The reason is that there are adequate facilities for pilgrims and this is not done by the government but by the board of Hemkunt Sahib. Therefore, Amarnath Board should also make efforts to save the lives of pilgrims at the cave shrine rather than collecting huge donations. The J&K Governor N.N. Vohra who is heading the board had called an emergency meeting on this issue but nothing concrete appears to have been done on this front. There has been little change on the ground. Death toll has continued to mount and looks set to surpass all previous records.
This is in sharp contrast to the facilities offered to the Haj pilgrims. The government of India makes elaborate arrangements for the welfare of Haj pilgrims and strives to improve the facilities provided to them every year. To begin with, the government provides an airfare subsidy of about 100,000 pilgrims selected by the Haj Committee of India who go for the Haj annually. According to official figures, the subsidy for Haj pilgrims has gone up to 350-400 crores from 250 crores in 2006. Also there is a separate Haj Terminal at the Delhi International Airport. There is a separate Haj cell in the Ministry of External Affairs. Accomodaton in Mecca and Medina is decided keeping in mind the need to provide maximum convenience and comfort to the pilgrims. A contingent of doctors, nurses and other paramedical staff provide round the clock medical care to facilitate a hassle free Haj pilgrimage for tens of thousands of Muslims in India.
On the other side, Amarnath yatra pilgrims talk of overcrowded tents, lying on bare ground and unsafe drinking water as problems to begin with. They assert that there is ankle deep mud on the way to the cave shrine, frozen tents without electricity where yatris are packed like sardines. The yatris maintain that there is no safety for women folk as locals crawl into their tents at night. There are also not adequate medical and sanitary facilities for pilgrims of Amanarth shrine. For centuries, they have been making arduous trips to the cave shrine without any benefit from the state. They have to depend on the benevolence of private philanthropists for food, accomodation and other facilites. By logic and fair practice – Isn’t what is due to one community due to another too? And yet, in a discriminatory treatment, lakhs of pilgrims who have been going to Amanarth shrine for years are being denied basic human facilities which have been responsible for raising the number of deaths.

Puri Shankaracharya has expressed concern over the rising number of deaths of Amanarth pilgrims alleging that there was no co-operation between the J&K government and Shree Amarnath Shrine Board on the management of yatra and medical services. Meanwhile, a seven member delegation of BJP MPs including leader of opposition in parliament Miss Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitely met the Home Minister Mr Chidambram urging him to take steps to prevent deaths of pilgrims and ensure proper facilities for them.
The unprecedented deaths of Amanarth Yatris have prompted the court to take suo motu cognizance of the dangers to the participants in the holy yatra. The court has asked to appoint a high powered committee to look into the deaths and suggest additional steps to alleviate the suffering of devotees. The committee needs to visit the place for assessing the ground situation and suggest steps to preempt the unfortunate deaths which occur in increasing numbers. Issuing notices to the Union Home Ministry, Union Health Minister, J&K government and SASB regarding the deaths during this year’s yatra, the court has sought an explanation from the central and Jammu and Kashmir governments on the medical and other facilities made available en route.
But it is truly unfortunate that courts are forced to intervene even with respect to issues that fall squarely within the ambit of the administration. The State and Central government, instead of putting in place measures to minimize the number of casualties have to wait for directions of the court to initiate action. The sad part is that even after the court’s intervention it is not guaranteed that authorities will accord priority to the issue and take steps to reduce pilgrims’ distress. All this can happen only when they take their duties seriously.
The Centre as well as the J&K government should take a serious view of the alarming rise in the number of deaths and implement effective fool-proof measures. It is not enough to create medical aid posts. There is need for trained medical and paramedical personnel all along the arduous route. Camping facilities should also be upgraded to enable the pilgrims to weather harsh conditions. The solution lies in offering more efficient and timely assistance to the hapless pilgrims along the perilous track. It is nobody’s case that the tragedy of human lives would be forgotten after the yatra is over.