Vaishno Devi yatra, suspended due to landslides, set to resume from Sunday

After a suspension of more than two weeks, the holy Vaishno Devi Yatra in Jammu’s Katra is set to resume on Sunday, September 14. The announcement was made by Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board on Friday.

The resumption of the yatra is conditional and subject to favourable weather conditions, the Board said.

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“Following a temporary suspension necessitated by inclement weather conditions and essential maintenance of the track, the Yatra to Shri Mata Vaishno Devi shall resume from September 14 (Sunday), subject to favourable weather conditions,” the Board stated in a statement.

The Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Yatra was suspended on August 26 following landslides on yatra route in the Jammu and Kashmir union territory’s Reasi district, which led to at least 35 deaths, most of them devotees. The landslides had occurred on the route due to heavy rains in the Jammu region.

Jammu region this year witnessed extremely heavy rains like other hill states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, bearing witness to large-scale destruction of property and loss of lives. A number of cloudburst incidents triggered landslides and flash floods in the region.

This has been the longest suspension of the Vaishno Devi yatra ever since the COVID pandemic in 2020 when the yatra had remained suspended for months from March 18 to August 16.