JAMMU:  All pilgrims to Amarnath cave shrine will be provided with pre-paid cellular service, Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) said on Thursday.
In a statement, the SASB said that a recent meeting attended by Chief Executive Officer and other concerned officers chaired by N.N. Vohra, Governor of Jammu and Kashmir and chairman of SASB decided to take out time bound steps to enhance telecom facilities for the pilgrims during 2014.
“All pilgrims will get temporary pre-paid SIM cards this year, which shall be operative for a period of seven days as compared to four days during Yatra 2013,” Navin K. Choudhary, CEO of SASB said.
He said that the pre-paid SIM card facility will be extremely valuable for those Yatris who do not possess a BSNL mobile facility.
He said that the BSNL would issue these pre-paid SIM cards only to the registered Yatris at special counters at the Nunwan and Baltal base camps against proof of Identity, proof of permanent address and valid registration papers.
Kumar also said that after taking up the matter of enhancement of telecom facilities in the Yatra area with the central authorities, “the Union Department of Telecommunication has agreed to consider allotment of separate funds for creating permanent infrastructure for providing telecom facilities for the future Yatras.”
“Department of Telecommunication has also advised other Service Providers like Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, etc to pool their resources and explore the feasibility of erecting telecom towers in the Yatra area for the benefit of pilgrims,” the statement said.

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