DG Rural Sanitation visits Baltal, reviews preparations for Amarnath Yatra

Baltal, Jun 18: Director General, Rural Sanitation, J&K, Anoo Malhotra Wednesday conducted an extensive tour of Baltal base camp to assess the sanitation facilities being put in place along the axis for the upcoming Shri Amarnath Ji Yatra (SANJY), 2025.
Accompanied by district officials of Ganderbal, including the ACP and BDOs, she visited various camps along the route—starting from the Baltal Base Camp through Domail and Rail Pathri, up to the end of the track—to review the sanitation arrangements for the Yatra.
The Director General on the way took stock of arrangements of men and machinary along the axis.
She directed the agencies involved in the sanitation and waste management to speed up the process and ensure quality services to the pilgrims.
The DG Rural Sanitation emphasized that the department remains fully committed to ensuring best facilities and services for the pilgrims.
During her visit, Malhotra reviewed installation and functionality of various sanitation infrastructures including the toilets, washrooms, dustbins, drainage for grey water disposal, segregation of wet waste site, plastic waste management site and other sanitation facilities along the Baltal axis.
She stressed the importance of maintaining highest standards of cleanliness and called for implementation of a zero-landfill policy along the entire pilgrimage routes.
Pertinent to mention here that toilets and baths are to be installed along both the Pahalgam and Baltal axis and on yatra route.
She issued specific directions for effective grey water management, including construction of adequate soak pits and drainage systems to prevent water logging and ensure environmentally sustainable waste disposal practices.
Directing the officials to adopt a pilgrim-centric approach and ensure that all necessary arrangements are made promptly for the convenience and well-being of devotees, Malhotra called for immediate redressal of complaints, especially those related to hygiene, through a real-time response system.
She further informed that a QR code-based feedback system has been introduced at toilet points to enable pilgrims report cleanliness status, provide feedback and support centralized tracking for improving service delivery.
She interacted with the field staff, sanitation workers and ground-level officers.