Vaishno Devi pilgrimage suspended till 5 am as devotees overflow

ANI  |  Katra (Jammu and Kashmir) [India] 

from has been suspended till 5 a.m. as the number of devotees crossed the 50,000 mark on

Only 49,907 devotees were finally allowed to begin their pilgrimage, according to Shri Mata Shrine Board.

The move comes after Green Tribunal (NGT) put a cap on the number of devotees to 50,000 per day, in a directive issued in November.

This year, as per official records, 80 lakh devotees have visited the holy shrine, which is three lakh higher than previous two years.

In 2016, the number was 77,23,721 and in 2015, it was 77,76,604.

The numbers spilled over the limit as many devotees wished to ring in the new year by paying their obeisance at the shrine.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Mon, January 01 2018. 04:19 IST