Amarnath Yatra: Forces conduct full-scale mock drill

A comprehensive multi-layer security arrangement has been established for the Amarnath Yatra, and a mock drill involving all relevant agencies was conducted to test the effectiveness of the system, police said on Tuesday.

The 57-day annual pilgrimage to the 3,880-metre-high Amarnath cave shrine is scheduled to begin on July 3 from two routes: the traditional 48-km Nunwan-Pahalgam track in Anantnag district and the shorter yet steeper 14-km Baltal route in Ganderbal district. The first group of pilgrims will depart from Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas in Jammu on July 2.

“IGP Kashmir Zone, VK Birdi, informed reporters that the Jammu and Kashmir Police have implemented these multi-tiered security measures. “We are carrying out a full-dress rehearsal and mock drills to ensure clarity among all security personnel regarding their roles,” he said.

If any contingency comes up, every security force can handle it properly, he added.

“As far as area monitoring and supervision are concerned, we have kept systems in place so we can monitor from a height. If there’s any aberration or abnormal observation, we can respond to it immediately,” he said.

Birdi said technology was being used to make the security system robust.

“This time as well, the J&K Police have set up a grid of CCTV surveillance cameras across the entire yatra routes and tracks. It has recognition features that will flag any adverse entities entering the system, so that security forces deployed there can remove them from the area or handle the situation,” he added.

Regarding the challenges posed by nature, Birdi acknowledged vulnerabilities related to weather and natural disasters on the upper tracks.

“NDMA conducts a table-top exercise with all stakeholders — J&K Police, paramilitary, and local district disaster management authorities. They do vulnerability mapping of slide-prone areas, avalanche-prone areas, glacier features, etc. Based on that, Mountain Rescue Teams are also deployed so that any weather-related contingency can be responded to properly,” he said.

Birdi said the pilgrims should follow the travel plans and timings issued from time to time.

“Through you, my request to all people coming here is: please check those timings once and plan your travel accordingly. The whole purpose is to provide complete security to people coming here. So my request to all is that they should know the timings and the discipline of timing cut-offs, so they can travel easily,” he said.

SSP Srinagar GV Sundeep Chakravarthy said the Srinagar Police, along with civil departments, security wing, traffic wing, paramilitary forces, fire and emergency services, SDRF, and all other stakeholders, conducted a comprehensive mock drill.

“The main objective is to practically test the emergency responsiveness, preparedness, and communication of our security forces. Today, at various strategic locations in Srinagar, we are performing different scenarios. This will give us a realistic assessment of how strong our emergency preparedness, communication, and response mechanism is,” he added.