On the directions of Governor Satya Pal Malik, the Chief Executive Officer of Amarnath Shrine Board, Umang Narula, took a meeting today to review arrangements to be made for providing rescue facilities in case of any emergent situation during the forthcoming Yatra. Narula informed the Governor that a total of 27 Rescue Teams will be deployed during the forthcoming Yatra. These teams would be drawn from personnel of J&K Armed Police, SDRF and the NDRF and equipped with all rescue equipment including Oxygen Cylinders. At least 11 Mountain Rescue Teams (two more than last year) from the J&K Armed Police will be deployed to help women and sick Yatris in negotiating difficult stretches on the Yatra routes. The meeting was informed that a total of 12 Avalanche Rescue Teams – 11 teams of State Disaster Response Force and one team of CRPF – would be deployed along both the routes. Of these, seven teams would be deployed along Pahalgam route at Chandanwari, Pissu Top, Zojibal-Nagakoti, Sheshnag, MG Top, Panjtarni and Holy Cave and five teams would be deployed along the Baltal route at Baltal, Domel, Railpatri, Brarimarg and Sangam Top. Besides, four Search and Rescue teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) are also being deployed at Pahalgam, Chandanwari, Sheshnag, Panjtarni and Baltal. The rescue teams equipped with necessary paraphernalia shall be deployed at critical stretches, particularly between Railpathri and Brarimarg, forewarning Yatris about shooting stones and landslides. It was decided that effective strength of rescue teams would be increased from 10 to 15 and SSPs of Ganderbal and Anantnag districts shall fix RD wise jurisdiction of rescue teams.It was also decided to introduce Common Access Protocol (CAP) in the Yatra area, linked with Emergency Operation Centres (EOCs) at Sonamarg and Chandanwari, to enable all Yatris and others present in that grid to receive SMSs in case of emergent situations on any network.This would be in addition to Priority Call Routing (PCR) portal which will help to prioritize the calls of officers associated with disaster management, even if there is congestion in the communication network.
