Amarnath Yatra: J&K Administration Conducts Mock Drill, Reviews Safety

Lt Governor Manoj Sinha also chaired a high-level meeting with the senior officials of Police and Civil Administrations to review traffic management and a comprehensive mobility plan during the Amarnath Yatra.

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Administration and Police conducted a Mock Drill to assess the overall preparedness, safety, traffic and mobility plans for the upcoming 2-month-long Amarnath pilgrimage. The 62-day-long annual Amarnath Yatra will commence on 1 July 2023 and will culminate on 31 August 2023. According to reports, the J&K Administration and the Police jointly conducted a mock drill ahead of Amarnath Yatra. A Yatra convoy was sent under security and all other arrangements were properly checked by the officials.

Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha also chaired a high-level meeting with the senior officials of Police and Civil Administrations to review traffic management and a comprehensive mobility plan during the Amarnath Yatra. The LG directed Zone-wise traffic planning on the National Highway-44 in close coordination with concerned departments, District Administrations, Senior Superintendents of Police (SSPs) and Traffic Police to ensure smooth traffic, parking, and pedestrian operations. Time slots for the movement of convoys, livestock, vehicles carrying essential items and horticulture produce should be notified. Strict enforcement of Traffic Advisories, Schedules and cutoff timings must be ensured, the LG Singa directed the officials.

A Mock Drill was also conducted earlier by the National Disaster Management Authority and District Disaster Management Authorities and all the concerned Govt and private agencies from the Baltal axis to deal with any eventuality during the 2-month-long Amarnath pilgrimage. 

Member Secretary NDMA, Kamal Kishore, Brig. B.S Thakar from NDMA; Camp Director Baltal, Ghan Shyam Singh and ADC Ganderbal, Mehraj-ud-Din Shah conducted the Mock exercise on the Baltal route covering both natural as well as man-made disasters. The exercise was conducted to assess the overall preparedness and response measures taken at critical sites to deal with any untoward incident on the Baltal route of Amarnath Yatra.

NDMA experts trained the participants on key aspects of disaster management such as the formation of Incident Response Teams, coordination among various participating agencies, evacuation, medical preparedness and trauma counselling.

Traffic Police, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), Border Roads Organisation (BRO) and other agencies should also deploy more men and machinery to respond to real-time events and to mitigate the effects of a breakdown, he added.

The LG instructed the officials of the Traffic Police to utilize Integrated Command and Control Centres for effective traffic, transit and travel demand management. He directed the Divisional Commissioners and Additional Director Generals of Police (ADGPs) to overall supervise the traffic management in their respective divisions.

The meeting also discussed the utilization of the Mughal Road, alternate routes, public utilities along Mughal Road and traffic management at Pahalgam and Sonamarg. Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Bhim Sen Tuti gave a detailed briefing on the action plan for the Yatra.

ACS Home RK Goyal, DGP Dilbag Singh, Principal Secretary, Public Works (R&B) Shailendra Kumar, Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board CEO Mandeep Kumar Bhandari,, all ADGPs, Divisional Commissioners, Deputy Commissioners, SSPs and senior officers attended the meeting.