Avtar Bhat
According to official sources, 11,530 pilgrims performed darshan of Ice Lingam at holy cave today. Out of them, 6,132 pilgrims left from Baltal base camp while 4,409 left from Nunwan Base Camp to cave shrine. While those who left via Baltal had reached the cave shrine by late in the evening and those from Nunwan track had stayed for the night halt at Sheshnag and Chandanwari respectively, sources said.
Sources said the yatris were stopped for a brief period at Access Control Gates at Chandanwari and Baltal due to heavy showers of rain in the morning. But after improvement in weather the yatra was allowed to go ahead.
Sources said the weather in the morning was cloudy and there were few spells of rain in the yatra area. However the weather improved by the afternoon.
According to sources, though a sizable number of unregistered pilgrims and those who had the darshan date of next month returned to Srinagar from Manigam and Pahalgam but others who are still camping at Pahalgam and other places are facing problems for shelter as the hoteliers are charging the exorbitant rates from them and the authorities have not allowed them to enter the Base Camp.
Sources said that authorities are only allowing the registered pilgrims to make their entries in the Base camps at Nunwan and Baltal. Even the media persons have been denied entry in the Base camps, sources added.
Moreover the J&K Bank has made incorrect registrations of many yatris which also led to a lot of confusion. In many registrations the date of darshan did not coincide with the day of darshan. This has also created chaos, sources said.
Sources said many yatris were stopped by the authorities for this confusion yesterday also. However Navin Kumar Choudhary Chief Executive Officer, Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) has issued directives to the authorities to allow such yatris whose registrations are incorrect.
Sources said over 10,000 pilgrims are camping in Pahalgam at present.
However in view of significant number of unregistered pilgrims and pilgrims who have arrived ahead of their scheduled darshan date, Divisional Administration Kashmir, in coordination with the Shrine Board, JK Bank and Directorate of Tourism Kashmir have established 14 counters- seven each at Pantha Chowk, Srinagar and Tourist Reception Centre (TRC), Nowgam Srinagar to facilities such yatris to obtain registration before they can proceed for base camps.
This facility is in addition to the Current Registration arrangement available to yatris at various locations in Jammu i.e Vaishnavi Dham, Sarswati Dham, Jammu Haat and Ram Mandir.
Stating this, Navin Choudhary said all the yatris are advised to obtain registration for the date on which they wish to undertake the yatra beforehand to avoid unnecessary difficulties and inconvenience to them as well as the administration.
He further reiterated that the yatris, in their own best interests should cooperate with the administration and should not reach the Base Camps without first obtaining registration.
In addition they should reach the base camps only a day before they are scheduled to undertake the yatra. If any yatri reaches without registration or ahead of their darshan date he or she should obtain current registration from the counters established at Jammu and Srinagar, he added.
Meanwhile over 2,000 pilgrims left the Jammu base camp for their onward journey to the cave shrine of Amarnath in South Kashmir amid tight security arrangements.
The third batch of pilgrims, consisting of 2,370 devotees, left from Bhagwati Nagar base camp in Jammu at around 4:55 am, police said, adding that the convoy included 74 vehicles.
The batch comprised of 1,773 men, 356 women, and 47 children, apart from 194 Sadhus.
So far, 7,806 pilgrims have left the Jammu base camp for their onward journey to the holy cave in the Himalayan range after 55 day long yatra started from here on June 27.
It may be recalled that 7, 983 pilgrims performed darshan at holy cave yesterday. With this, the total pilgrims performing darshan in first two days has reached 19,513.
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