In the absence of the start of annual pilgrimage to the holy cave shrine of Amarnath, located at a height of over 13,000 ft above the sea level, the public broadcaster, Doordarshan is all set to broadcast live telecast of special aarti, two times during the day starting from July 5 till August 3.
CEO Prasar Bharti, Shashi Shekhar in a tweet said “Happy to share that the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board in association with Prasar Bharati will bring the live telecast of Aarti from the Holy Cave of Shri Amarnathji on various Doordarshan channels “.
Lt-Governor Girish Chandar Murmu is expected to visit the holy cave shrine to perform the special pooja.
Teams of State disaster Response Force (SDRF) have also been deployed along the yatra route in the wake of VVIP visit.
The public broadcaster has offered two slots of 30 minutes each for the live telecast. The first telecast will take place at 7.30 a.m in the morning and the second at 5.00 p.m in the evening, official sources said.
The special arrangements have been made in the wake of the prevailing situation due to Covid-19 pandemic across the country.
A fifteen member team of Doordarshan is already camping in the shrine area to make necessary arrangements for the live telecast.
In the absence of the start of the annual pilgrimage, as per its original schedule, Shri Amarnath Shrine Board authorities had approached the national broadcaster, Doordarshan, to explore the possibility of live telecast from the cave shrine.
After receiving clearance from their head office, the technical teams were rushed to the spot to assess the ground situation and make necessary arrangements.
On the other hand, Shri Amarnath Shrine Board Authorities are fully geared up on ground zero and making all necessary arrangements for the start of the yatra at the earliest.
So far, Shrine Board authorities have decided to conduct the yatra via Baltal route. The annual pilgrimage will not be allowed via another traditional route of Pahalgam.
At least four helipads and a base camp have been made operational to facilitate pilgrims via Baltal route.
The 16 km track on this route is more treacherous and difficult to climb.
Necessary security arrangements and other logistics have been kept in place to ensure incident free and smooth conduct of the yatra even for a limited time period. In Jammu and along the entire yatra route elaborate security arrangements will be made to ensure safety of the pilgrims. Last year, the yatra was suspended on August 2 in the wake of terror threats and recovery of explosive material and other items along the yatra route.
Shri Amarnath Shrine Board, under the chairmanship of Lt- Governor Girish Chandar Murmu is expected to take a final decision on the conduct of the yatra soon after the reopening of Durbar move offices from July 6 in Srinagar.
On its part, Shri Amarnath Shrine Board authorities are preparing for conducting annual pilgrimage for a small period after taking all necessary precautions in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic.
As per the initial proposal discussed during the previous review meetings, the annual pilgrimage is expected to begin in the third week of July 2020. However, the final decision will be announced after reviewing the prevailing situation. So far nine out of 10 districts in Kashmir valley have been declared 'red zones' due to spread of coronavirus.
A total number of 8019 cases have been reported in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Out of this, 2825 are active positive.
The pilgrims visiting the shrine will have to undergo mandatory Corona screening before entering the borders of Jammu and Kashmir at different locations. After finalising the final dates of the yatra, Shri Amarnath Shrine Board authorities are expected to issue a set of guidelines to be followed by the pilgrims if they wish to undertake the pilgrimage to the cave shrine.
The final decision whether to allow pithoo and ponywallhs is expected to be announced after the final decision is taken on the date of start of yatra this year.
The Union Territory administration is also in touch with some socio religious organisations who are expected to set up community kitchens to provide refreshments to the pilgrims during the yatra period.