Srinagar: A first of its kind daily radio transmission for the 2.5 lakh pilgrims who have reached Kashmir valley to visit the holy cave of Amarnath, is adding to their safety and security. In order to keep Amarnath yatris updated about the weather and facilities provided by the Amarnath Shrine Board and the district authorities of Anantnag and Ganderbal, a frequency modulation (FM) radio transmitter has been set up at Baltal, which is transmitting for 16 hours non-stop every day. The yatris can access the transmission even on basic mobile phones. This special transmission service is available from 7 am to 11 pm and provides information to the pilgrims on the weather, security and other related arrangements. The transmission will end on the last day of the yatra.
The Union Ministry of Culture is providing devotional content for this transmission, which includes mantras, shlokas and bhajans with contextual meaning on Shiva, Parvati and Ganesh. The transmission is being run from a hut at Baltal Sonamarg by the programme officer of Radio Kashmir Srinagar, Talha Jehangir. While talking to The Sunday Guardian, Jehangir said that they were getting a huge and positive response on social media, especially on Twitter, for this 16-hour broadcast.
Talha said that while he was getting the religious content from the Ministry of Culture, he was uploading weather updates and other information regarding the yatra and safety advisories from the Amarnath Shrine Board.
Talha Jehangir said that the transmission was the first of its kind started from Kashmir Valley and was a huge point of connection for all those missing yatris who wanted to contact each other. He said that the transmission was available on a “DTH channel”, namely Amarnath Yatra AIR, which was an initiative by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and Ministry of Culture. The transmitter was set up in the shortest span of one month by the engineers of Radio Kashmir Srinagar under the supervision of K. Murugan, DDGE.
Talha Jehangir is the sole programme officer looking after this daily transmission from Baltal. The transmission is relayed by FM Tral, FM Pahalgam, FM Patnitop, FM Teetwal and FM Gurez. He said that their target was to cover the entire route of the yatra.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Home Affairs is closely monitoring the yatra from New Delhi.