Guv orders meet to review cleanliness in Amarnath shrine route

Jammu and Kashmir Governor N N Vohra has asked the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board to convene an urgent meeting with various stakeholders to review the cleanliness in the area leading to the 3,880- metre-high cave shrine in southern Himalayas.
Vohra, who is also the Chairman of the Board, passed the directive at a meeting held here yesterday to review the outcome of a post-yatra sanitation drive undertaken in the area following the conclusion of the annual pilgrimage on August 10, a spokesman said today.
He said the Governor asked the Chief Executive Officer of the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB) R K Gupta to convene an urgent meeting with the Deputy Commissioners of Anantnag and Ganderbal, the CEOs of the Pahalgam and Sonamarg Development Authorities and the senior officials concerned of the State Pollution Control Board to undertake a full-fledged status review of the cleanliness in the areas of their respective responsibilities.

The spokesman said Vohra was informed that the garbage on the twin tracks to the cave shrine -- 16-km Baltal route in Ganderbal district and 45-km traditional Pahalgam route in Anantnag district-- and the yatra camps at Nunwan, Chandanwari, Sheshnag, Panjtarni and the holy cave, Sangam and Baltal has been collected and disposed as per the Garbage Disposal Plan.
While the maintenance of cleanliness on the track from Baltal to the holy cave and at the yatra camps is the responsibility of SASB, the maintenance of cleanliness of the track from Chandanwari to holy cave along the traditional route is the responsibility of Pahalgam Development Authority.

The Governor asked the CEO to provide him a report after the proposed review meeting, the spokesman said.