Aug 28, 2025: In spite of numerous weather advisories and warnings about inclement weather in the region, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and the Jammu and Kashmir Congress have raised serious questions about why pilgrims were permitted to proceed toward the Vaishno Devi shrine.

On their way to the holy shrine in the Trikuta hills, a landslide killed at least 34 pilgrims and injured several others. Omar Abdullah asked reporters, "Why were these people on the track? Why didn't anyone stop them? Why weren't they relocated to a safe location? This needs to be talked about later. We are deeply sorry for the precious lives lost. He mentioned that weather warnings had been issued for days. "Shouldn't we have taken certain measures to prevent those deaths?" He inquired.

A similar tragedy occurred just a few days earlier in Kishtwar, where a flash flood on August 14 claimed the lives of at least 65 pilgrims traveling to the Machail Mata temple. The Kishtwar administration had already come under fire for not canceling the pilgrimage despite numerous alerts from the Meteorological Department and bad weather due to that incident.

The Vaishno Devi shrine is run by a Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and the Lieutenant Governor of J&K is in charge of the Shrine Board. Over the course of the previous week, the Met Centre in Srinagar had issued a number of warnings stating that a western disturbance was likely to cause cloudbursts, flash floods, and heavy rainfall in the Jammu region.

Yatra was halted: L-G
"Due to bad weather, the yatra was already put on hold on Tuesday. A cloudburst occurred and devotees at Ardhkuwari were caught in it. L-G Manoj Sinha stated, "We are providing assistance to the bereaved families."