JAMMU, June 2: Pilgrimage to holy cave shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi Ji has crossed four million mark in first five months of this year with the month of May alone accounting for over million yatris because of summer vacations in most parts of the country. In the current month of June also, the rush of pilgrims is expected to continue like May.May is the only month which has breached the mark of million while in April, the yatra fell short by around 45,000 in touching the figure of million. If the trend persists, the pilgrimage to the widely revered cave shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi Ji could touch or come close to 10 million mark this year like 2023.Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board (SMVDSB) CEO Anshul Garg told the Excelsior that 40,30,927 pilgrims paid obeisance to Goddess Vaishno Devi during first five months of 2024.
Highest number of 11,64,301 pilgrims visited the cave shrine in May followed by 9,55,575 in the month of April, Garg said.
In March, 8,61,517 yatris performed darshan while the numbers were 6,16,609 in January and 4,32,925 in February.
Heavy rush of pilgrims is being witnessed at Katra, the base camp of Mata Vaishno Devi Ji shrine these days. The rush further increases during the weekends.
The highest number in the history of pilgrimage journey was in 2012, with 1,04,09,569 devotees, followed by 1,01,15,647 in 2011.
Besides Mata Vaishno Devi Bhawan, adequate arrangements and facilities have also been made for the pilgrims at Katra, Adh-Kunwari, Bhairon Ghati and other places on Katra-Bhawan track.
It may be mentioned here that annual pilgrimage to the cave shrine was just 13.86 lakh in 1986 when the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board took over affairs of the shrine.
Since then, many facilities have been added for the pilgrims to make their yatra smooth and convenient.
