The Vaishno Devi Shrine in the Trikuta Hills.

Pilgrims to the Vaishno Devi Shrine will find their uphill journey greatly eased as plans are afoot to decongest the route in the coming year. The Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine (SMVD) is planning to decongest the 11-km uphill route from the base camp in Katra to the "durbar" or the main shrine in the Trikuta hills by introducing separate routes for ascent and descent. At the moment, there is only one track that is very congested because of the huge and ever-increasing rush to the shrine.

The SMVD is also planning to dispense with the long queues for darshan, a proposal that has come as a big relief to pilgrims. The waiting period for the darshan, which varies between 4 and 12 hours, will be reduced to 15 minutes if all goes as planned. "All this is being done to ease the pressure and to make the pilgrimage easier for the pilgrims," said J&K Governor Lt. Gen. S. K. Sinha (Retd.), who is also chairman of the shrine board.

The project is likely to be completed in a year's time. Plans are also afoot to construct an ice-temple at Him Koti - which will incorporate the history of the pilgrimage - to add attractions en route to the shrine.