Only 50,000 devotees allowed to visit Vaishno Devi shrine every day, rules National Green Tribunal
Pilgrims will be stopped either in Ardhkuwari or in Katra town once the limit is reached.
The National Green Tribunal on Monday capped the number of devotees that can visit the Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu and Kashmir at 50,000 per day, PTI reported. The panel also ordered a stop to all construction activities at the temple.
Once the 50,000 limit is reached, devotees will be stopped either in Ardhkuwari or in Katra town, NDTV reported.
#FLASH: NGT caps number of devotees allowed to visit Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu and Kashmir at 50,000 a day. Any more people found proceeding towards the shrine would be stopped either at Ardhkumari or Katra. All new constructions taking place inside shrine complex also stayed
— ANI (@ANI) November 13, 2017
A new path to the shrine for pedestrians and battery-operated car services will be unveiled on November 24, the tribunal said in its order.
Last year, the National Green Tribunal told the chief executive officer of the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, which runs the Vaishnodevi shrine, to submit a report on municipal solid waste generated by devotees and sewage treatment plants installed at the complex. The panel was acting on a plea that said pilgrims and the horses, mules and ponies used to ferry them generate a large amount of untreated waste, which is then directly disposed in the Banganga river.
