SRINAGAR: The Amarnath pilgrimage, one of the holiest for Hindus, will last for 55 days before concluding on Raksha Bandhan festival, which falls on Aug 21 this year.
Last year, the pilgrimage was decided to last only for 39 days, a move which earned the shrine management anger of right-wing Hindu parties, who accused the board of “curbing religious freedom”.
The Shri Amarnath Shrine Board had feared that frozen tracks and cold weather could jeopardise the lives of pilgrims, who came to worship a natural ice stalagmite believed to be an icon of Hindu deity Lord Shiva.
Nevertheless, more than a hundred pilgrims died, most of them falling sick while on the track which passes through ice-fed streams and glaciers right up to the cave, 3880m deep in the Himalayas.
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The decision to start the pilgrimage on June 28 this time was taken in a meeting chaired by Governor NN Vohra, ex-officio chairman of the Board, in country capital New Delhi.
But now, the SASB chief executive officer, Navin Chowdhary said, pilgrims will be asked to submit information in the form of a self-declaration about their current health status, past medical history and various ailments from which they may be suffering or may have suffered in the past.
The SASB has also decided that health certificates, mandatory for pilgrims, would be issued only by doctors or institutes selected or nominated by respective state governments.
The board directed Chowdhary to issue very clear advisories, from time to time, to inform every intending yatri about the requirement of obtaining the prescribed compulsory health certificate from the authorised medical institutes.
