Jammu: J&K government has taken several steps to ensure safety and security of Vaishno Devi pilgrims and prevent the recurrence of incidents like stampede that took place on January 1, 2022 and claimed 12 lives.
Besides, a high level three-member committee headed by the Principal Secretary (Home), Government of J&K has been constituted to ascertain the reasons behind the incident of stampede.
This was stated by Minister of State Home Affairs, Nityanand Rai while replying to the clubbed questions of three Congress members during the Question Hour in Lok Sabha.
The members had asked about the findings of a probe ordered into the incident. “A high level three-member committee headed by the Principal Secretary (Home), Government of J&K has been constituted to ascertain the reasons behind the incident of Stampede in Mata Vaishno Devi Mandir, Jammu & Kashmir,” Rai replied.
With regard to steps taken to prevent the recurrence of such mishaps, he said, “The Government of J&K has taken several steps to ensure safety and security of the pilgrims which inter-alia include online yatra registration, token system for Darshan, RFID based crowd management, construction of new shelters and halting points for pilgrims, installation of CCTV cameras, other crowd management measures etc.”
Probe panel was set up by the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on the same day. “Additional CCTV cameras installed for real time monitoring and management of crowd.
Additional deployment of JK Police and CRPF personnel was made, Additional halting points were also operationalised for holding pilgrims in case of rush situations.
Besides, the lockers of Bhawan were relocated and shifted to the roof top of Manokamna Bhawan for decongestion of Yatra,” J&K government had stated.