Footfall dips at Golden Temple as tourists avoid Amritsar

AMRITSAR: Golden Temple has seen a sharp drop in footfall in past two days, with visitors preferring to stay away from Amritsar, a border district, amid the ongoing India-Pakistan conflict, reports The holy Sikh shrine gets over a lakh pilgrims daily on an average, but its corridors have been noticeably empty after India launched 'Operation Sindoor' on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday.Partap Singh, secretary of SGPC, said the number of pilgrims travelling from outside Amritsar had declined due to the military conflict, but arrival of local devotees remained steady. The decline in number of visitors has, in fact, affected the entire tourism economy of Amritsar. Hotels are largely vacant, and places like Heritage Street and Jallianwala Bagh memorial are nearly deserted.Meanwhile, SGPC has begun relocating the 'saroops' (scriptures) of Guru Granth Sahib from the gurdwaras located in various parts of J&K and border districts of Punjab.