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This committee will be headed by the Additional Chief Secretary of the Water Power Department and he will submit his report within two weeks. 34 devotees lost their lives while more than 20 people were injured in this landslide.
3-Member committee to probe Vaishno Devi L=landslide
Jammu: Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha has constituted a three-member committee to investigate the recent landslide on the Vaishno Devi Yatra route. This committee will be headed by the Additional Chief Secretary of the Water Power Department and he will submit his report within two weeks. 34 devotees lost their lives while more than 20 people were injured in this landslide in the Trikuta mountain area on Tuesday.
J&K: Vaishno Devi Yatra remains suspended fourth consecutive day
The Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board has expressed deep sorrow over the death of devotees in the natural disaster that occurred on August 26. Along with this, the board has also strongly denied the misleading news going viral in the media, in which it was alleged that the Yatra was continued despite the weather warning, which endangered the safety of the pilgrims. The board has termed these allegations as completely false and baseless.
J&K LG forms a 3-member committee to investigate landslide on Vaishno Devi route. Safety measures to be reviewed urgently. #JammuKashmir #VaishnoDevi #LandslideInvestigation pic.twitter.com/9pMpCYFyk1
— Dynamite News (@DynamiteNews_) August 29, 2025
According to the board, the weather was clear and conducive for the yatra till around 10 am on August 26. At that time, the yatra was going on normally, even helicopter services were operating without any interruption. The board had deployed its enforcement personnel and disaster management team along the entire route as per the standard operating procedure. Every weather update was closely monitored and as soon as there was a moderate rain alert, registrations for the yatra were immediately stopped.
Most of the pilgrims were descending after visiting the holy cave. By then thousands of devotees had safely returned to Katra and completed their yatra. However, some pilgrims stayed in the shelter sheds built on the old track, which is traditionally considered safe and where landslides have never occurred before. The new route which goes from Katra via Tarakote was closed since August 24 due to being vulnerable to landslides and weather-related disruptions.
The old route is generally considered safe and was kept open depending on the weather. This route was also closed on 26th August till 12 noon after a special weather warning was issued. Unfortunately, the accident occurred near Indraprastha Bhojanalaya on this route, which is considered to be the safest part of the old track. Here, a sudden cloudburst in an area of about 50 metres triggered a massive landslide, which was totally unexpected as no such incident had occurred in this area earlier.
