Braving snowfall, over 13,000 pilgrims visiting Vaishno Devi daily: Officials

Braving heavy swfall and extremely cold wear, around 13000 pilgrims are visiting cave shrine of Mata Vaish Devi daily, officials said on Monday, January 14

Due to rush, shrine board has t opened natural cave yet which is usually me accessible to pilgrims by mid January when number of visitors decreases to around 7000 per day.

"Despite swfall and chilly wear conditions,pilgrims numbering between 12000 to 13000 continue to visit shrine daily," Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Shri Mata Vaish Devi Shrine Board (SMVDSB) Simrandeep Singh told PTI.

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" natural cave for darshan was t opened on Monday on Makar Sankranti because rush of pilgrims is still as high as 13000," Singh said. 

cave shrine is likely to be opened next week once ir is a dip in arrival of pilgrims, he ded.

In 2018, shrine located in Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir recorded highest number of arrival of pilgrims in last five years, with nearly 86-lakh devotees visiting temple.

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A total of 85,86,541 pilgrims visited cave shrine last year as compared to 81.78 lakh in 2017. number of pilgrims in 2016 was 81.73 lakh, board officials said. number of visitors h dropped from 93.24 lakh in 2013 to 78.03 lakh in 2014 and furr to 77.77 lakh in 2015 and 77.24 lakh in 2016, officials ded. 

In 1986, when board took over affairs of shrine for better manment, annual footfall was around 14 lakh. Since n, re has been a stey increase of visitors every year, with number of pilgrims touching an all-time high of 1.05 crore in 2012, board officials said.