Post rate cut, no helicopter tickets available till May 31

Post rate cut, no helicopter tickets available till May 31
Archit Watts/TNS

VAISHNO DEVI YATRA

Katra, May 9
As the rates of tickets of the helicopter service to Mata Vaishno Devi shrine from its base camp at Katra to Sanjhi Chhat and from Sanjhi Chhat to Katra have been reduced drastically, it has become the first preference of the pilgrims. As a result there is no ticket available at present and tickets have been sold in advance for a month.

The ticket for an adult is now available at Rs 700, which was earlier available around Rs 1,400 for a single side. Two private players -- Global Vectra and Pawan Hans -- are at present providing this service. “Earlier when the ticket price was almost double, there were hardly any takers of the chopper service. But now the scenario is altogether different,” said an official at the ticket booking counter at Hotel Continental here.

He added that, “The entire process has gone online and the pilgrims can now get tickets by logging into the websites of the service providers by paying the fare through credit cards. There is also a benefit of availing of the helicopter service, as the pilgrims get a priority slip to pay obeisance at the shrine”.

The official said they were getting a large number of phone calls for tickets for VIPs and VVIPs everyday.

Even the officials of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board accepted the fact that the recent cut in the prices of chopper tickets was attracting a large number of pilgrims. “The pilgrimage is about 12-km long and most of the pilgrims prefer the helicopter services to reach Sanjhi Chhat, from where the distance to the shrine is about 2.5 km. There is no ticket available at any ticket counter till May 31,” said a senior official of the shrine board.

He added, “Summer vacation are yet to start, but there is already a huge rush of devotees and helicopter tickets till May 31 have been sold in advance”.

He also appealed to the pilgrims, those planning to pay obeisance at the shrine, to get helicopter tickets in advance, as these were not available here. “Those who can go on foot or on mules or palanquins should avoid using the chopper service so that the needy or the aged could make use of it,” the official said.

Battery-operated vehicles are also running from Ardhkwari to the Bhawan via the new track. So far about 28 lakh pilgrims have paid obeisance at the shrine. Last year, nearly 87.5 lakh pilgrims had darshan at the shrine, the highest ever since the inception of the shrine board in 1986. In April alone about 9.77 lakh pilgrims paid obeisance at the shrine, while the number of pilgrims was almost the same in March.

At present on an average nearly 30,000 pilgrims are coming here to pay obeisance at the holy cave shrine.