Vaishnodevi yatra suspended

Though snow from some sections was cleared by the Border Roads Organization (BRO) by taking advantage of the clear weather yet the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway remained closed for the third consecutive day today. In the meantime, pilgrimage to the holy cave shrine of Shri Mata Vaishnodevi was suspended this afternoon after seven pilgrims sustained injuries due to extreme slippery conditions between Adhkuwari and Bhawan.

Soon after getting information about pilgrims facing lots of inconvenience due to extreme slippery conditions between Adhkuwari, Bhawan and Bhairon Ghati areas, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Shri Mata Vaishnodevi Shrine Board, R K Goyal, Additional Chief Executive Officer, Dr Mandeep K Bhandari and Additional SP Katra, Mohan Lal, personally conducted the inspection of the track.

Later, the yatra was suspended from Katra at around 2.30 pm as a precautionary measure and all the pilgrims, who had already left the base camp for the cave shrine, were advised through the public address system to adopt utmost caution while trekking the distance between Adhkuwari and Bhawan and up to Bhairon Ghati.

"Though we have removed snow from the entire track yet due to plummeting of temperature the track between Adhkuwari and Bhawan has become very slippery and allowing yatra in these circumstances is fraught with danger", Additional Chief Executive Officer of the Shri Mata Vaishnodevi Shrine Board, Dr Mandeep Bhandari said when contacted.

To a question, he said that Shrine Board has been making repeated announcements from the public address system advising the pilgrims to move only on that portion of the track from where the snow has been removed in order to avoid any trouble.

"We will assess the situation tomorrow morning before taking any decision vis-à-vis allowing yatra from the Katra", Mr Bhandari said in response to another question.

According to police sources, due to slippery conditions, around seven pilgrims sustained injuries at Hathi Matha, Bhairon Ghati and Bhawan areas last night. All were shifted to Katra Hospital, where they were provided required treatment.

The injured pilgrims have been identified as Gopal, Rajni, Bhumesh, Pinki, all the residents of Delhi, Gourav Kumar of Moradabad, Raju of Rajasthan and Kashi Nath of Uttar Pradesh.

Meanwhile, Jammu-Srinagar National Highway 1A remained closed for the 3rd consecutive day today although the Border Roads Organization (BRO) succeeded in removing snow from some sections and cleared some stranded vehicles particularly between Banihal and Jawahar Tunnel.

Deputy Commissioner, Ramban, Shabir Ahmed, said that Border Roads Organization (BRO) cleared Jawahar Tunnel-Banihal stretch of the highway for one way movement of the vehicles at around 4 pm following which all the stranded vehicles were allowed to proceed towards Kashmir valley.

"Ramban to Batote and Batote to Patnitop sections were also cleared partially but road connectivity between Ramban and Banihal could not be restored even one way because of problems at Digdol and Nachlana", he said, adding "we are expecting re-opening of the highway for one way movement of the vehicles by tomorrow afternoon or evening".

According to the Udhampur district administration, Patnitop-Udhampur Section of the highway was reopened for one way movement of the vehicles and some stranded vehicles were allowed to proceed towards Udhampur but with utmost precaution.

The road clearance work was going on between Batote-Assar stretch of National Highway 1B when reports last came in and road connectivity of the twin mountainous districts of Doda and Kishtwar with rest of the State is also likely to be restored by tomorrow afternoon.

Though some interior roads in Doda and Kishtwar districts were reopened today yet almost all link roads in Ramban district continued to remain blocked because of heavy snowfall and administration would be able to start restoration work only after the opening of the highway, official sources said. Similarly, majority of the roads in the hilly areas of Udhampur district also remained closed even today.

Due to closure of the highway for the third consecutive day today, around 300 Kashmir valley and erstwhile Doda district bound passengers have been stranded at General Bus Stand, Jammu.

On the instructions of the Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, his Political Advisor Devinder Singh Rana, today visited the area and interacted with the stranded passengers.

Accompanied by Deputy Commissioner, Jammu, Sanjeev Verma, Mr Rana informed the stranded passengers that efforts were being made to open the highway and hopefully by tomorrow afternoon they would be allowed to proceed towards their respective destinations in the State Road Transport Corporation (SRTC) buses free of cost.

Our Srinagar Correspondent adds:

Summer capital recorded coldest night of the winter after the minimum temperature dropped to minus 5.5 degree Celsius. However, world famous ski resort of Gulmarg was coldest in the Kashmir valley after the minimum temperature dropped to minus 16.5 degree.

Major parts of the world famous Dal Lake were frozen, attracting large number of people, including tourists who were seen taking photographs.

Official sources said several other water bodies were also frozen due to cold. People in many areas complained about water shortage as the water taps were also frozen. Due to non-availability of electricity, water could not be lifted to filtration plants and water tanks.

Famed ski resort of Gulmarg, which experienced more than five feet of snowfall, also recorded coldest night of the season when the minimum temperature dropped to minus 16.5 degree this morning. Earlier, the highest temperature was minus 12.0 degrees recorded on December 23, 2011.

However, hundreds of tourists from different parts of the country and abroad were enjoying the snow despite severe cold. Qazigund, gateway of Kashmir valley on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway, also recorded minus 8.4 degrees breaking the previous minus 5.6 recorded on December 26, 2011.

Kokernag in South Kashmir and Kupwara in North Kashmir also recorded coldest night after the minimum temperature dropped to minus 6.3 and minus 5.6 degree respectively. However, famed health resort of Pahalgam, base camp of holy Amarnath cave shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas, recorded minus 6.0 degree temperature against yesterday's minus 4.0 degree.

Mule Dung Vaishnodevi track to Produce Bio Gas

Finally, the mule dung on the track of holy cave shrine of Shri Mata Vaishnodevi is all set to yield bio-gas instead of remaining a menace as country’s first ever mule dung based bio-gas plant set up near the holy town of Katra has been put on trial and would be formally commissioned by the end of next month.

Official sources told News Agency that as per the analysis conducted by Shri Mata Vaishnodevi Shrine Board (SMVDSB) around 40 tonnes of dung is being littered by the mules all along the track from Katra to Bhawan every day and the same continues to be menace despite the fact that Shrine Board is leaving no stone unturned for prompt removal of the same from the track.

In order to turn the menace into a source of generating energy for the Shrine Board, the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy headed by Dr Farooq Abdullah early last year discussed with the Governor N N Vohra, who is also the Chairman of Shrine Board, its Special Area Demonstration Project (SADP) Scheme, which is aimed at demonstrating renewable energy systems/ devices by their installation at places of national and international importance to supplement the energy requirement.

Subsequently, the Union Ministry sanctioned ` 50 lakh worth project which not only includes setting up of bio-gas plant but also solar water heaters and solar power plants of 5 Kilo Watt each, sources said, adding though solar water heaters and solar power plants have already come up, the mule-dung based bio-gas plant has recently been set up near Chetak Bhawan by a Pune-based firm—Mailhem.

"During the past two days, the plant has been put on trial and gas formation by using mule dung is being observed", sources said, adding "the trial of the plant would continue for at least 20 to 25 days following which the plant would be formally commissioned and put to regular use".

The plant has the capacity to generate bio-gas from 4 tonnes of mule every day and Shrine Board has already entered into a contract with the Katra-based agency, which will purchase bio-gas and put to use for its own use, sources said, adding "initially the mule dung would be lifted from the most problematic areas like first 3-4 kilometers of the track and both sides of Banganga".

As the plant would also generate approximately 12 to 15 tonnes of bio-manure per month as an end project, the Shrine Board has invited Expressions of Interest from the individuals, Government agencies, firms and organizations for the purchase of the bio-manure and the last date of submission of Expressions of Interest is December 30, 2011.

"As the plant has been set up on demonstration basis, Shrine Board would monitor the bio-gas generation for some months before taking any decision about setting up of more such plants or increasing the capacity of the existing one as per day generation of mule dung is much more than the present capacity of the plant", sources said.

To a question, they said that Shrine Board has also engaged Mailhem for Operation and Maintenance of the plant.