Amid incessant rains, a fresh batch of over 1,490 devotees left Jammu early Tuesday morning for the ongoing Amarnath Yatra, as the total number of yatris paying obeisance at the holy cave shrine continues to rise.
“More than 3.86 lakh yatris have so far performed the Amarnath Yatra since it commenced on July 3,” an official said.
Officials stated, “Another batch of 1,490, including 186 women, and 42 sadhus and sadhvis, left the Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas in two escorted convoys of 61 vehicles for the Valley today.”
The first escorted convoy of 16 vehicles carrying 327 yatris left at 3:25 am for Baltal base camp, while the second escorted convoy of 45 vehicles carrying 1,163 yatris left at 3:57 am for Nunwan (Pahalgam) base camp,” officials said.
The authorities have made extensive multi-tier security arrangements for this year’s yatra, as yatra takes place after the deadly Pahalgam terror attack in which terrorists shot dead 26 people, mostly tourists, in Baisaran meadow on April 22.
Officials said that since the yatra started on July 3, so far over 3.86 lakh pilgrims had ‘darshan’ inside the holy cave shrine.
With this fresh departure, a total of over 1,44,500 pilgrims have left the Bhagwati Nagar base camp in Jammu for the Kashmir Valley since LG Manoj Sinha flagged off the yatra from Jammu on July 2.
The yatra goes on as usual, amid tight security arrangements, despite the April 22 Pahalgam attack. More than 3.50 lakh people have registered online for the pilgrimage, while the number of pilgrims has already crossed this year's registrations.
Officials this past weeksaid that more yatris were coming directly to Jammu for on-the-spot offline registration, as several counters have been set up by the J&K administration. Last year, more than 5.10 lakh yatris paid obeisance at the cave shrine.
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