The registration for 60-day annual Amarnath yatra, which will commence on 28 June, will begin on 1 March, a senior official said on Friday, 2 February.
The registration will take place through 440 branches of the Punjab National Bank, the Jammu and Kashmir Bank and the YES Bank across the country, said Umang Narula, Principal Secretary to Governor and Chief Executive Officer Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB).
Governor NN Vohra, who is also the Chairman of the Amarnathji Shrine Board, on Friday reviewed the arrangements being made for the yatra, which is scheduled to begin on 28 June and conclude on 26 August.
Vohra directed the SASB CEO to ensure no person below the age of 13 years or above 75 years is registered even though he or she might have obtained the compulsory health certificate.
The governor was given a detailed report about the arrangements being made in the yatra area along both the Pahalgam and Baltal routes which, inter-alia, include facilities of providing water supply, electricity, overnight stay accommodation, temporary latrines and baths for the yatris and sanitation arrangements.
As approved by the governor, the CEO will incur an expenditure of nearly Rs 1.50 crore for procuring 629 new pre-fabricated latrines and baths, which include 243 European type and 286 Indian-type latrines and 100 baths, to replace the damaged units.
It was further informed that 2,750 latrines, of which 499 are English type, shall be installed during the ensuing yatra, which is 157 more than in the previous year.
No unauthorised tent or shop should be pitched in any camp, the governor directed.
Narula informed the governor adequate arrangements would be in place for extending medical facilities to the yatris by the health department, the army and the security forces.
These will include adequately equipped base hospitals, medical aid centers and emergency aid centers.
The governor was also informed about the status of the project to upgrade the technology of the Sewage Treatment Plant at the Nunwan Base Camp.
A detailed project report for modernisation of this STP has been prepared and the process of tendering the work has been initiated, he said.
Tragedy struck the Amarnath yatra last year when eight pilgrims were killed as LeT terrorists fired indiscriminately on a bus in the outskirts of Anantnag on 10 July,. The devotees were on their way back to Jammu after the pilgrimage.
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