In Jammu and Kashmir , the pilgrimage to the holy Cave Shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi on Wednesday, achieved a new milestone by recording 1 crore pilgrimage in a year for the first time. Dr. Rakesh Vishawkarma from Jaipur, Rajasthan became the 1 croreth pilgrim to pay the obeisance at the holy Cave Shrine.

Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board Authorities under the supervision of Additional Chief Executive Officer, Mandeep K Bhandari had already geared themselves up to meet with the heavy rush of pilgrims, as going by the heavy rush of pilgrims to the Cave Shrine, the pilgrimage was expected to cross 1 crore mark this year.

Pilgrimage to Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board was just 14 lakhs in 1986 when the Shrine Board had taken over affairs of the Shrine. With unprecedented all round development, the pilgrimage to the Cave Shrine started picking up and crossed 40 lakh in 1995. By 2000, the yatra had crossed 5 million mark and last year, the pilgrimage crossed 87 lakh.