Jammu(Jammu and Kashmir) [India], June 6 : Construction work on Yatri Niwas and the Disaster Management Center under the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation's (ONGC) CSR initiative commenced in Jammu on Tuesday.
Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, and Manoj Sinha, Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kasmir, performed puja for the commencement of construction work.
The facility is being developed at Majeen Jammu under the CSR initiative of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) at a cost of Rs 51 crore.
Hardeep Singh Puri said the Yatri Niwas will help in providing accommodation for 30,000 Shri Amarnath pilgrims every year and will be particularly helpful for yatris from weaker sections. It will help in traffic management and ensure a seamless experience, he added.
Manoj Sinha congratulated the Amarnath devotees, officials of the Shrine Board, all stakeholders and organizations associated with Amarnath Yatra and the people of Jammu region for the commencement of the construction work of the Yatri Niwas.
"I am immensely grateful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri for Amarnath Shrine Board's Yatri Niwas at Jammu. This new facility will ease the lives of devotees embarking on annual pilgrimage of Baba Amarnath," said the J-K LG.
He expressed gratitude to the Union Petroleum Minister for approving 4-5 more Yatri Niwas under CSR initiatives for Baba Amarnath devotees. This Seva of pilgrims on the holy pilgrimage is really appreciable, he said.
He also expressed gratitude to Arun Kumar Singh, Chairman ONGC and lauded the Board of Directors of ONGC for their outstanding support in realizing the dream of Yatri Niwas and Disaster Management Center at Jammu.
LG Sinha impressed upon the executing agencies and all the workers engaged in the construction work to develop the Yatri Niwas as a centre of spirituality which will provide divine experience to the devotees.
"Baba Amarnath's holy pilgrimage is the highest peak of spiritual experience. The construction work of Yatri Niwas should be carried out with complete devotion and a grateful heart," the LG said.
Under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, we are working with greater commitment and devotion to scale up the facilities including lodging, transportation, medical, and better connectivity for the safe and hassle-free pilgrimage of the devotees, said the LG.
DPR for Chandanwari-Panjtarni- Sangam Top-Baltal road being prepared by NHIDCL is at advanced stage. On completion, this road will provide smooth passage to the pilgrims, he observed.
Last year, the maximum number of 3.65 lakh pilgrims visited the Holy Shrine of Shri Amarnathji, since 2015. As many as 120 additional bank branches were added last year to facilitate the registration of the pilgrims and this year the registration facility is being provided through 542 branches across the country, he added.
In 2021, the initiatives of online Darshan, hawan and prasad were taken to facilitate the devotees. Moreover, Yatri Niwas at Chandrakot which was inaugurated in June last year accommodated around 50,000 devotees, he further said.
Manoj Sinha said the work for upgradation of Yatra track has been done on a war footing and the work was resumed after snow clearance in March this year.
We are making dedicated efforts to strengthen communication connectivity. Telecommunication towers, Cell on Wheels are being installed by the telecom service providers, besides Army is laying an Optical fiber cable from Sonamarg to Holy Cave, he added.
Designed by School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, the Yatri Niwas is set for completion within 18-month time period.
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