A CRPF jawan was buried alive near holy cave shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi after a massive landslide crushed him near gate No. 3 on Wednesday afternoon.
The ongoing yatra was immediately suspended by the Shrine Board authorities for few hours to ensure safety of other pilgrims and to clear the debris from the landslide hit area.
This is the second major incident of landslide along the yatra track in the last 20 days. Four pilgrims were killed near Adhkuwari in the first week of August after heavy rains triggered landslide in the area.
According to eyewitness reports, "CRPF jawan identified as Harvinder Singh was standing on duty near gate no 3 when massive landslide hit the area and he was buried under the debris. The local police and shrine board authorities rushed to the spot to clear the debris but could not save life of CRPF jawan.
The yatra was resumed late in the evening after the debris were cleared by the rescue workers.
Frequent incidents of landsliding and shooting stones along vulnerable pockets had earlier alerted Shrine Board authorities to carry out a comprehensive safety audit of the ongoing projects in the area. On the request of Shrine Board Chairman NN Vohra a high level team of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) had recently conducted a safety audit of the major infrastructure projects in the region.
According to official sources the safety audit was conducted by Devendra Gill, Additional General Manager (Safety), DMRC. Besides surveying infrastructural projects DMRC team had also surveyed ambitious Slope Stabilisation and the two Ropeway Projects of SMVDSB.
CEO of the Shrine Board, Ajeet Kumar Sahu has also been directed by the Governor to submit a report on concrete measures taken for ensuring the safety and security of the pilgrims against landslides and stones falling on the tracks at vulnerable points.