Amidst heavy rain, the fourth batch of over 6,900 devotees left the Jammu base camp on Saturday for the Amarnath shrine in South Kashmir.
Around 30,000 devotees have paid obeisance at the 3,880 metre-high cave shrine since 3 July. The 38-day annual yatra commenced from twin treks in Pahalgam in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district and the Baltal route in Ganderbal.
The fourth batch of 6,979 devotees, including 5,196 men, 1,427 women, 24 children, 331 sadhus and sadhvis, and one transgender devotee, left the Bhagwati Nagar base camp in two separate convoys at an interval of 45 minutes, between 3.30 am and 4.05 am amid tight security, officials said.
The 4,226 devotees left in 161 vehicles for the Nunwan base camp, embarking on the longest but easier trek of the 48-kilometre traditional Pahalgam route, while 2,753 pilgrims headed for the shorter but steeper 14-kilometre Baltal route in 151 vehicles, they said.
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With this fresh departure, a total of 24,528 pilgrims have left the Bhagwati Nagar base camp in Jammu for the Kashmir Valley since Wednesday, after LG Manoj Sinha flagged off the yatra from Jammu.
The yatra goes on as usual, amid tight security arrangements, despite the 22 April Pahalgam attack. So far, over 3.5 lakh people have registered online for the pilgrimage, while the numbers are likely to surge in the coming days after the J&K administration established special counters for offline registration.
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