Heavy influx at Katra on New Year’s Eve
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 31: This year, the holy cave shrine of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Ji welcomed nearly 9.5 million pilgrims, despite facing challenges like consecutive Lok Sabha and Legislative Assembly elections in J&K and a terror incident involving Shiv Khori pilgrims on June 9.
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Approximately 94.80 lakh devotees offered their prayers to Goddess Vaishno Devi Ji this year, just 42,000 fewer than last year’s total of 95.22 lakh.
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According to Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board (SMVDSB) CEO Anshul Garg, there was a significant rush of pilgrims today, and the yatra is being managed according to established regulations. “At 6 pm, the number of pilgrims had surpassed 32,000,” he stated.
The total for this year tallied at 94.80 lakh compared to 95.22 lakh in 2023 and 91.25 lakh in 2022. In 2020, only 17 lakh pilgrims, the lowest count in over 30 years, visited the shrine as it remained closed for five months due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
In 2012, the number of pilgrims reached an unprecedented high of 1.04 crore.
From 2013 to 2016, there was a decline, with figures dropping from 93.24 lakh in 2013 to 77.23 lakh in 2016. However, numbers improved to 81.78 lakh in 2017 and 85.87 lakh in 2018, before dipping again in 2019 to 79.40 lakh.
Notably, the pilgrimage numbers slightly decreased during the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, as well as following the June 9 terror attack on a bus carrying Shiv Khori devotees, which resulted in nine fatalities.
Recently, there have been protests in Katra with service providers striking against the development of a ropeway project to the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi shrine.
In spite of these obstacles, the yatra narrowly missed the one crore milestone.
