Govt excited about Amarnath Yatra forgetting lessons of Kumbha Mela

The second wave of COVID-19 virus is wreaking havoc in India. In such events, events like Kumbha Mela made ghee in the fire. But forgetting the lessons of that event, preparations are now being made for the Amarnath Yatra.

The local administration of Jammu and kashmir plans to set up temporary camps at Baltal and Chandavadi. From Baltal, devotees will have to travel 14 km on foot. Devotees from Chandavadi will be able to reach the holy cave of Amarnath after a 32 km trek. 

Although the authorities have cancelled the job of online enrollment for the present, but they say that the journey will be from June 28 to August 22. 

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Recently, Mahakumbh was organized in Haridwar, which was criticized worldwide. Lakhs of people had gathered at this event when the cases of corona voice were increasing rapidly in the whole country.

Hundreds of devotees who joined the Mahakumbh and at least nine big saints have been found infected with the corona virus. During the Mahakumbh, there was a demand from many forums to postpone the event after seeing the social distancing of the flag flying. But the local authorities did not pay much attention to this demand. Now many health experts are also worrying about the Amarnath Yatra. Political parties of Kashmir are also not very enthusiastic about this visit. Local National Conference leader Tanveer Sadiq says that the situation is bad in the whole of India. He says, "It would be better if the Amarnath Yatra is symbolic this year and only a few people are allowed to visit the holy cave. Otherwise, there can be havoc here."

Preparations for this yatra have been going on since January when the government invited applications for six lakh devotees. But people within the administration are also worried about the situation. 

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Shri Amarnath Shrine Board, which organizes the Amarnath Yatra, says that in April, 30 thousand devotees from different parts of India have registered for the yatra. This journey did not take place in 2019 and 2020. 

After the end of Section 370 in 2019, the central government cancelled the trip due to tensions, while in 2020, the trip could not take place due to the nationwide lockdown. But this time the government seems quite keen on getting the trip done. 

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Even after Mahakumbh, no lesson has been learned from the upsurge in cases. In Kashmir, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Thakur Puran Singh died only after returning from Kumbh.

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