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Pilgrims flock to Vaishno Devi

Jammu: The holy cave shrine of Vaishno Devi witnessed an unprecedented rush of pilgrims on the fourth day on Tuesday as nearly 40,000 pilgrims have been offering puja and darshan here daily, official sources said.

The Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board stopped the registration at 1-30 pm on Saturday, while generally registration time is 6-00 am to 11 pm daily.

The registration counter could not be opened even today because of the heavy rush on the 12 km mountainous route of the cave shrine.

"Due to heavy rush of pilgrims at Katra, Ardhkumari, Bhawan (Temple premises) and Bhaironnath, the registration counter have been closed earlier," official sources said. With daily arrival of over 40,000 pilgrims at the base camp in Katra town of Udhampur district of Jammu and Kashmir, all the arrangements have collapsed and pilgrims are forced to take shelter on roads and streets.

Nearly 4.15 lakh pilgrims, till Sunday, from different parts of at the country, have visited Vaishno Devi since January registering an increase of over 4.49 lakh yatris from the corresponding period last year. The Shrine Board has made elaborate arrangements to tackle the heavy rush. UNI

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Pilgrims flock to Vaishno Devi

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