In order to prevent untoward incidents at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine, a high-tech crowd management system has been approved by the government, said the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The Government of Jammu and Kashmir constituted a high-level committee to ascertain the reasons behind the stampede incident at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine. The Committee is headed by Principal Secretary (Home), Government of Jammu and Kashmir.
According to the the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Shrine Board has taken the decision of online registration of pilgrims to the extent of 80 per cent of the total number allowed for Yatra has been implemented with effect from January 5, 2022.
Token system and group system for releasing the pilgrims in Darshan queues in batches has already been put into practice.
For effective and real time crowd management at Bhawan and all along the track, the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) based crowd management system for live tracking of the pilgrims has been approved.
Works has been started such as yatri queue management at Bhawan and at Bhairon Ji Mandir, suspension bridge and dedicated exit route at Bhawan.
The Shrine Board has alloted additional 30 minutes per day for normal darshans. Construction of Durga Bhawan, a new structure to accommodate 5,000 additional CCTV Cameras installed for real time monitoring and management of crowd.
The six video walls have been installed for mass communication and live darshans of the sanctum sanctorum. Additional deployment of Jammu and Kashmir police and Central Reserve Police Force personnel has been made.
Additional Halting points are operationalized for holding pilgrims in case of rush situations.
The lockers at Bhawan are relocated and shifted to the roof top of Manokamna Bhawan for decongestion of Yatra.
“Public Order’ and ‘Police’ are State subjects as per the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India. Thus, the responsibilities of maintaining law and order, rests primarily with the respective State Governments/UT Administrations. Central Government keeps a constant watch on the situation and responds appropriately to the emergent situations. Among other measures, alerts and advisories are issued from time to time to the States/UTs,” said the Ministry of Home Affairs.
A total of twelve persons died and 16 were injured in the stampede at the Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu and Kashmir’s Katra in January 1, 2022. Jammu and Kashmir Police had said that as per initial reports, an argument broke out which resulted in people pushing each other, followed by the stampede.
