Avtar Bhat
JAMMU July 7: As many as 1,42,648 pilgrims have performed darshan in holy cave of Swami Amarnath Ji situated at an altitude of 3,880 meters in deep Himalayas in South Kashmir district of Anantnag during first 10 days of yatra.
According to an official spokesman, 14,480 pilgrims performed darshan in the cave shrine today while a total number of 1,28,168 pilgrims had performed darshan till late last night.
“The yatra was progressing smoothly,’’ he said.
He added that 6, 178 yatris left Nunwan base camp for holy cave via traditional Chandanwari -Sheshnag track under tight security measures early this morning.
Besides 3,435 pilgrims left Baltal base camp via shorter track for holy cave while 1402 pilgrims performed the yatra by air.
He said the pilgrims who left via Baltal had reached the cave shrine by late in the evening while those who left via Chandanwari track after night halts at Chandanwari, Sheshnag and Panchtarni respectively will reach holy cave a day after tomorrow.
About 6,000 pilgrims, who had night halt at different halting stations on traditional Pahalgam route, including 3,780 at Chandanwari, the last mortorable point, also left for the cave shrine early this morning.
The spokesman said pilgrimage was going on smoothly. He said the weather enroute to holy cave was cloudy.
However, there is a forecast for rain or thundershowers with cloudy weather on both routes from base camps.
He said the pilgrims reaching the Baltal camp till 1100 hrs will be allowed to proceed towards the cave shrine from the shorter route, he said, adding that the gate will be closed and nobody will be allowed to move towards the shrine after 1100 hours as directed by Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB).
Meanwhile, a fresh batch of 1974 pilgrims left Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas –the Jammu Base Camp for holy cave in a cavalcade of 65 vehicles under tight security arrangements early this morning.
They included 1396 male, 455 female, 23 children and 100 Sadhus. These pilgrims had crossed the Jawahar tunnel by the evening and were on the way to their next destinations.
This is the 11th batch of Yatra which left Jammu base camp since the yatra started from here on July 27.
The 55 day long yatra will culminate on Sharawan Purnima coinciding with Raksha Bandhan on August 21.
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