The Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board suspended the registration for the Vaishno Devi pilgrimage on Wednesday following a heavy rush and overwhelming surge of devotees on the occasion of New Year. According to officials, the registration counters have been closed until Thursday morning, as the crowd hit its peak at the Katra base camp and along the trekking route to the Bhawan.
The Mata Vaishno Devi shrine has been witnessing exceptionally high footfall since Monday night as thousands of pilgrims arrived to offer prayers and seek blessings for the New Year. Despite dense fog and chilly conditions, pilgrims were seen undertaking the yatra with enthusiasm.
The shrine board authorities decided to stop new registrations to ensure smooth crowd management, safety of visitors, and uninterrupted arrangements at the holy site.
Officials also appealed to pilgrims travelling with children and the elderly to delay their journey, as long wait times and extended walking duration on the route may cause inconvenience.
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The shrine board has also increased deployment of security, health staff, and sanitation teams to handle the massive influx. They have also installed barricades at key points along the track and stepped up monitoring at the Bhawan, Ardhkuwari, and Sanjichhat areas. Arrangements for medical assistance have been made for emergency cases.
The Vaishno Devi shrine attracts lakhs of devotees every year and is among the most visited pilgrimages in the country. Like other shrines, it also records one of the highest annual rushes in the New Year period.
The Shrine Board emphasized that the temporary halt is a precautionary step to maintain safety and an orderly ‘darshan’ and spiritual experience for the pilgrims.
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Authorities said the registrations will start after Thursday morning, subject to crowd conditions. They said a formal announcement will be made online once the situation normalises.
Meanwhile, devotees thronged prominent temples across the country on the last day of the year, offering prayers and seeking divine blessings as part of year-end religious observances.
In Ayodhya, devotees gathered in large numbers at the Ram Janmabhoomi Temple to offer prayers on the occasion of Pratishtha Dwadashi and the second anniversary of the Ram Mandir Pran Pratishtha, coinciding with the last day of the year. The temple witnessed a heavy influx of devotees since morning.
The Banke Bihari Temple in Vrindavan, Mathura, also witnessed an overwhelming surge of devotees coming to seek blessings.