BJP State Spokesperson, Prof. Virender Gupta took strong note of National Green Tribunal (NGT) declaring Amarnath cave shrine as ‘silence zone’. He said that NGT decision of prohibiting chanting of mantras, religious kirtan and carrying anything from the stairs leading to the holy cave has been taken without making any scientific analysis about the effects of the sound created due to chanting of mantras and religious slogans nearby Shiva cave. Going by the logic of NGT it would stop the movement of traffic particularly heavy traffic like that of army vehicles, railways and the flight of aeroplanes and helicopters in or on the mountainous region of the state. “There has been not a fractional of damage to the holy cave so far witnessed because of chanting of religious kirtans for the last of so many years, since yatra to the holy cave started”, he added.
Prof. Virender said that the decision of NGT is going to seriously hurt the religious sentiments of the people without any justification of the prohibiting steps suggested. “So far the issue of development of infrastructure is concerned there is need to revamp the infrastructure, particularly of providing better stay facilities at Panchtarni. The connectivity to the Amarnath cave on foot needs to be improved”, Prof. Virender said.
He emphasized that to infringe upon the religious feelings of the people has to be taken into account and no effort should be made to hurt them. He warned that any step that goes against the public sentiments would compel the people to stand against the system and would jeopardize the peace of the state, which is otherwise a very sensitive part of the country.
