Vaishno Devi Yatra: SC Asks J&K Government to Submit Plan on Phasing Out Mules Carrying Pilgrims to Shrine

Jammu, August 1: The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Jammu and Kashmir government to prepare a plan on phasing out mules carrying pilgrims to Vaishno Devi shrine. The court has also asked the state to apprise it within a month on how mule owners in Vaishno Devi will be rehabilitated.

Earlier last month too, a bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta had asked the state to protect the pony and mule owners, who are operating in Vaishno Devi for a long time ferrying devotees to and from the shrine, and look into issues of their rehabilitation on “humanitarian grounds”.

The court had also taken note of the problem of pollution in the Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu and the surrounding areas and made it clear that the Jammu and Kashmir government and the shrine board would have to “protect and preserve” both.

“It is very clear that you have to preserve and protect the shrine and protect the environment also. You will also have to protect the mule owners. We do not know whether you are looking at it (issue of rehabilitation) on humanitarian grounds,” the bench had observed.

The counsel for activist Gauri Maulekhi had filed a plea in the NGT seeking removal of horses and mules from the path to the shrine. the petitioner had placed before the bench the recent pictures of the Banganga river and said waste was being dumped into the river causing environmental degradation.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 01, 2018 02:13 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).