The Jammu and Kashmir government has reiterated that there was no direction from the Supreme Court about the construction of a road to the Himalayan cave shrine of Amarnath.
The statement comes in the wake of a controversy generated by some Jammu-based political parties, which claimed that the SC has issued a direction for the construction of the road before the onset of winter.
The state government's clarification was made by the state Forest and Environment Minister Mian Altaf Ahmad. Earlier, the state finance minister had made it clear that the apex court had not issued any direction to the state government about constructing a road to the cave shrine.
The controversy has evoked a sharp reaction from the Kashmir civil society and separatist leaders, who alleged that the yatra was being "politicised". They have also claimed that
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