A few years ago when the ice-lingam did not form because the glacial cover atop Amarnath had depleted and the snow cover around too had vanished thus no melt water dropping into the cave was possible, the custodians of the cave shrine secretly allowed creation of an artificial Shivling. This with a view that thousands of devotees who
undertook the arduous journey through rugged mountains then to pay obeisance at Amarnath did not return disappointed. But while most of them took it into their stride saying what was important was their making it to the most revered place of worship in the Kashmir Himalayas, sections of clergy, including mahant Deependra Giri, the custodian of Chhari-Mubarak or the holy mace of Lord Shiva, lodged their strong protest and also called for a judicial inquiry into the doctoring of the Shivling. Also an outcry among the Hindu religious organisations evoked with reports that the lingam had been hand-made from snow brought from higher elevations after it had failed to form naturally pouring out.
Though no such urgency reoccurred, particularly this year, when a huge Shivling had naturally formed must to the delight of the devotees who relocated to the cave-shrine during the initial days of the yatra, the SASB officials are reported to be worried at the enormity with which it is melting now. Yet neither it nor the state authorities have been able to stop the influx of unregistered pilgrims for obvious political reasons.
Sources in the SASB admit that any attempt to force the entry of unregistered pilgrims who in most cases outnumber the registered ones might create a law and order situation at the base-camps and elsewhere too. The repeated pleas being issued by the SASB to the pilgrims to strictly follow the rules and avoid embarking on the journey in bad weather have been ignored by large number of pilgrims. The drift has not only caused inconvenience to both registered and unregistered pilgrims who are often stuck in traffic jams, face difficulty is finding suitable accommodations at base-camps and have to wait for six to eight hours before they could have darshan of the Shivling but is also playing havoc with the environs as the tracks and based-camps have been dotted with heaps of empty plastic bottles, stray food wrappers and human excreta.