The Amarnath Yatra for the last 160 years used to commence from Jammu and traverse Udhampur, Pator, Ram Bandh, and Vanha before reaching the Pir-Panjal Mountain range which divides Jammu and Kashmir.
After crossing the mountain range, the Yatra reaches Anantnag. From here the traditional routes travels via Pehelgam, Chandanbari, Sheshnag. This route finds mentioning in ancient Hindu epics. However for the last 20 years when insurgency took roots in Kashmir, the Army created another route via Pahalegam and this alternate route also became available for Amarnath Yatris.
Since the traditional route has been in use for the last many years, some infrastructure was available on this route for the convenience of the Yatris. There was a demand for infrastructure facilities in the alternate route also as in Pehalgam and Sheshnag only Tent accommodation for Yatris was available.
In 1996 a very powerful thunder storm hit the Yatris and about 250 of them died. A Commission was immediately constituted to recommend various measures that could be implemented to ensure safety of the Yatris. Based on the recommendations of the commission in 2000, the than Chief Minister, Sh. Farooq Abdullah was the Chief Minister, the Shrine Board was constituted, which began functioning in 2001. Previously right after independence till 2000, the State Government used to provide all the arrangements for the Yatris and before that since 160 years the Maharaja of Kashmir provided the necessary arrangements for the yatris.
The Shrine Board after it was constituted wrote to the Forest Department of the Government of Jammu and Kashmir that though accommodation was available in Pehelgam for the Amarnath yatris, no such facility was available in Dhomal and Balthal. The Shrine Board sought permission to construct accommodation for the Yatris and the State Government decided to allot land for this purpose. However a Public Interest Litigation was filed for stopping the allotment of the Land. The Court in its interim order granted permission to the State Government to provide temporary accommodation for the yatris and permitted construction of the temporary accommodation for 2 months during the yatra period and ordered that the same should be dismantled till the next year.
In February, 2008 after prolonged correspondence between the Forest Department and the Shrine Board, a note was put up to the Government to provide 40 hectares or 100 acres of Land for the purpose of constructing temporary accommodation. The Forest Department was again consulted and after getting final clearance from the Forest Department, Cabinet Note was prepared in May 2008. The Empowered Committee constituted by the Supreme Court of India under the Forest Department, the Law Department and the Deputy Chief Minister all cleared the allotment of land , after which the Cabinet approved the allocation of the Land to Shrine Board.
While approving the allocation of Land, the Shrine Board, the Cabinet both took the decision that the Land may be allotted to Shrine Board for the construction of prefabricated structure only and no permanent construction would be allowed. In addition, Shrine Board also was asked to fulfil 13 other conditions, some of the important conditions are:
- The ownership of the Land will remain with the Government and the Shrine Board will be only provided with rights of Land use.
- The Shrine Board will deposit Rs. 2 and half crore to the State Government every year towards land use.
- The Shrine Board will utilise the land only for the purpose for which the land is allotted and no other use can be made out of it. Also it cannot give the Land on sublease to any other person or body for any other purpose.
- When there is no more use for the land, the Shrine Board will return the land to the Government without any condition or payment.
As of now only the order has been passed by the State Government and no other further steps have been taken. Only after the Shrine Board complies with the condition and makes the deposit of Rs. 2 and half crores, the State Government was to appoint an agency which would have done the demarcation after which the land would have been transferred to the Shrine Board. The current position is that the Cabinet decision on land allotment took place the Shrine Board did not deposit any money with the Government and no officer for demarcation has been designated before even the boundaries could be drawn.
It is very unfortunate that all the Shrine Board members are from outside Kashmir. As per the Constitution the Governor is the Chairman of the Shrine Board and the Governor is always from outside the state. The Governor should have chosen the members of the Shrine Board from J & K However, the Governor nominated 7 members from outside the state and only one from within. This was one of the reasons which was instrumental in creating an apprehension and helped in spreading rumours. The miscreants and the antisocial elements in fact spread rumours that multi storey houses will be built for thousands of Yatris who were visiting the state and the Yatis will permanently stay in these houses. Since more than 10 lakhs Yatris visit every year, they will stay back in these flats and in 5 years the number of Yatris will swell to 50 Lakhs which will be more than the 40 Lakhs population of the J & K. Rumours were spread that this is a new strategy by Government of India to increase the Hindu population in J & k compared to Muslims settling people from other areas.
This rumour mongers included the pro-Pakistani groups and groups seeking Independent Kashmir. The main problem was the SMS messaging which circulated the news that the Homes have been built and site plans for thousands of flats have been prepared. The latest technology of messaging helped in spreading and propagating the message through out the Valley and it spread like wild fire.
The Law Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister were all from PDP. All the decisions which were taken, were in fact, approved and clearer during their time. The Chief Minister expected the National Conference to support because the Shrine Board was constituted when Sh. Farooq Abdullah was the Chief Minister, in fact the decision taken by Sh. Farooq Abdullah includes provision of Land and construction also.
The Governor wrote to the Chief Minister asking whether accommodation which has been provided to the Yatris for the last 52 years along the Yatra route, can be provided now also. The Chief Minister wrote back that there would not be any problem since we have been implementing so much infrastructure development and also 90% of the facilities including Police protection, first aid, doctors etc are provided by the local Government during the Yatra even today.
While in the first Cabinet meeting the decision was take to provide only 40 hectares of Land for temporary use but in the second meeting of the Cabinet, the decision was taken to provide much more land for this use was taken. The State Government has taken the responsibility of providing the necessary infrastructure to the Yatris itself.
The decision taken in the second cabinet meeting decided that the State Government will take the responsibility for providing the infrastructure from Jammu itself. The State Government also took the responsibility for providing the infrastructure for Yatris along both the roots in fact the second decision taken, is much better than the earlier decision because it provides more land. The earlier decision called for providing 40 hectares whereas, the second decision now provided 4, 000 hectares. This also requires that the State Government will provide more infrastructures to the Yatris. Thirdly the Tourism Department of J & K on which the economy of the J& K depends was also instructed to develop the infrastructure from the funds provided by the State Government since currently they are doing the infrastructure work also.
The second decision of the cabinet is much better and provides for more land, more infrastructure provision of more budget for providing more facilities to the Yatris. Previously the Yatris were provided shelter in the open stadium where as this year, with the outlay of 5 crores, a Yatri Niwas was built in Jammu only within 4 months in which around 3,000 people can stay per day and we have also constructed 15 halls for Administration, Police, Tourist Department, Fare Price Shop, Telephone and food for Yatris and medical facilities. The BJP which is spreading the riots has not talked even once regarding the land or the facilities for the Yatris because the second decision is thousand times better than the first decision. While in Kashmir Valley, disturbing elements gave this issue a new twist, the BJP and its supported organisation like Bajran Dal, RSS and VHP are giving religious twist. They are spreading communal riots by playing with the emotions of the people for the last two months.
One also must understand the reason behind the BJP'S instigation of riots. This is the first time in the last 60 years that BJP has won only one Assembly seat in the State. In the first Assembly Election held in the year 1952-53 when BJP won 3 seats it gradually increased the number of seats to 5, 7, 14 and 15 in the subsequent elections. However in the last elections in won only 1 seat. The BJP is apprehensive that because of the infrastructure development and other developments in the State by the Congress led coalition Government it may not be able to win even a single seat in the forthcoming elections.
Since elections to the state assembly are due in a few months and also the Lok Sabha elections are due early next year, the religious feelings of BJP are once again coming to the fore as they do not have any other issue to face the elections. Hence they are indulging in rioting and have created unrest in Jammu, as a result of which the people of Jammu & Kashmir are suffering and many of them have lost their lives.
The economy of Jammu & Kashmir also has been adversely affected by the unrest created by BJP. For over 20 years now, the economy of Jammu Kashmir is mainly based on tourism. The data shows that ever since demonstrations and protests by BJP began about 45 days back, the number of pilgrims visiting Mata Vaishno Devi temple has fallen from 50,000 to 60,000 per day to less than 5000. Four to Five lakh people who depend on the pilgrims for their livelihood such as the Taxi drivers, small hotel owners, fruit vendors etc are now adversely affected due the fall in number of tourists because of the violent protests by BJP. Number of tourists visiting the valley, which used to be around 16,000 to 17,000 per day has fallen to just about 1000. Thus one can imagine how the BJP has crushed and choked the economy of the state and also caused tension among Yatris.
The Congress Government after very skilful handling had brought back normalcy to the state by effectively curbing terrorism. Work Culture was beginning to take root and the people of Jammu Kashmir began working three shifts. There was also better understanding and bonhomie amongst various communities and communal harmony had greatly improved.
In fact the Government and the cabinet headed by Shri Ghulam Nabhi Azad had resolved to go in for delimitation according to the constitutional provisions and passed a resolution to appoint a delimitation Commission as the delimitation commission headed by Justice Kuldip Singh has no jurisdiction over Jammu & Kashmir. Hence rumours spread by BJP that Congress is not interested in delimitation is totally false.
In fact delimitation Act should have come before the legislature but it could not result in legislation in view of the dissolution of the Assembly in Jammu & Kashmir. Further it also required 2/3rd support of the members of the house and it could not have been passed without the support of other political parties as Congress did not have two-third support.
The promises made by Congress Party in the last elections like delimitation, removal of discrimination of the regions like Jammu & Ladakh, implementation of the Wazir Commission providing for three new districts in Jammu and one for Kashmir and also appoint a finance Commission to remove regional and sub-regional imbalances have been by and large implemented.
The present divisive policy pursued by BJP is only the revival of the stand which was taken by Shri L.K. Advani on dividing Jammu & Kashmir into 3 states when he was the Deputy Prime Minister in NDA Government.
Providing makeshift and also temporary accommodation for yatris and pilgrims all over the country is not a new phenomenon. Government spends a lot of money in providing such temporary facilities during Kumbha Mela, Puri Jagannath festival and many other such places.
The motive behind to spread rumours on an issue like this may also boomerang, if all over the Country, the temporary accommodation are sought to be made permanent.
The present controversy has also given a handle to the Hurriyat and separatist movements to raise their ugly head and also given life and strength from near dormant state. They are spreading rumours that highways heading from Kashmir valley to Jammu & from Jammu to Punjab and also other highways have been blocked. Based upon this rumour, there have been attempts to transport fruits to Pakistan. So rumour mills both from the BJP from the Jammu front and at the Kashmir Valley from Hurriyat and separatist groups have converged to threaten the unity of the country.
The rally's which were held at the instance of Hurriyat both at the LOC and at Srinagar before the office of the United Nations suggest internationalizing the issue. On the other hand BJP and others forces also held rally in Jammu. The sum total of their activities tends to threaten the unity of the country.