Officials say that more than 2,900 people who take visitors to the cave shrine on ponies, pithus, and palkis have signed up for an extension of their services before the yearly journey to the cave shrine.
The trip to the shrine in the south Kashmir Himalayas, which is 3,880 metres high, starts on July 1.
The Yatra has two routes: the classic 48-km route through Pahalgam in the Anantnag district of south Kashmir, and the 14-km shorter but steeper Baltal route in the Ganderbal district of central Kashmir.
Assistant Labour Commissioner (ALC) of Reasi said that the process of registering service providers who live in Reasi started last week after the department called them.
“So far, 1,046 pitthu wallas, 1,733 palki wallas, and 125 pony wallas have been recorded. The ALC said that a total of 2,904 people have signed up.
The official said that a place to sign up for online registration has been set up in the ALC office.
“Those who are interested should come to the ALC office on any workday between 10 am and 4:30 pm with the necessary documents to sign up,” the ALC said.
It was also said that the district office had started the online registration process to make it easier for service providers to sign up.
