New Year rush at Vaishno Devi shrine

A large number of pilgrims converged at Katra town on their way to the Vaishno Devi shrine on the New Year today.

Over 52,000 devotees paid obeisance at the cave in the last two days, said Chief Executive Officer, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, Ajit Kumar Sahu.

“Every year we go to clubs or discos to celebrate the New Year. This year, we thought of doing something different. We generally visit the Vaishno Devi shrine during September or October, but this year, we decided celebrate December 31 at the shrine,” said Deepak, who hails from Amritsar.

Aishwarya, a devotee from New Delhi, said she had come to the shrine to seek blessings for a happy married life. “It is for the first time I am visiting the Vaishno Devi shrine. I got married recently, and we are here to seek blessings for a happy and prosperous married life,” said Aishwarya.

“For the last two hours we are standing in queue for ticket and I believe it will take another hour…but we will not go without offering prayers at the shrine,” said Ashish Kumar from Mumbai.

In 2014, over 7.8 million people had visited the shrine. A similar number of pilgrims visited the shrine in 2015, said Sahu.