Heavy rains lash Yatra area
Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, July 12: On the 14th day of pilgrimage, 14,000 Yatris drawn from different parts of country paid obeisance at Himalayan cave in South Kashmir district of Anantnag today from twin tracks of Baltal and Chandanwari while the 15th batch of over 4000 pilgrims left Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas early this morning towards the twin base camps of Nunwan -Pahalgam in Anantnag district and Baltal-Sonamarg in Central Kashmiri’s Ganderbal district under tight security arrangements in a cavalcade of 165 light and heavy motor vehicles.
Officials said 14,030 pilgrims drawn from different parts of the country today performed darshan of naturally formed Ice Shivlingam in holy cave situated at an altitude of 3888 meters in Lidder Valley of South Kashmir.
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With this, a total number of 280,728 pilgrims visited cave shrine since the 52-day yatra started on June 29, officials said. They said among the 14030 pilgrims who performed darshan at cave shrine included 9077 male, 2933 female, 184 children, 196 Sadhus, six Sadhvis and one transgender besides 1633 service providers and security personnel.
Officials said all the yatris who performed darshan at cave shrine have started their return journey towards Baltal base camp and Panchtarni halting camp. They said the pilgrims who reached the twin base camps of Nunwan Pahalgam and Baltal -Sonamarg by yesterday evening left for their onwards sojourn early this morning. Besides, the pilgrims staying at different haltage camps of Chandanwari, Sheshnag and Panchtarni also started their onwards journey this morning.
Officials said that weather in entire holy cave area remained cloudy during the day and it rained heavily during last night at cave shrine and Yatra area but the Yatra proceeded normally from both the tracks.
Meanwhile, a fresh batch of 4434 pilgrims which left for twin base camps from Bhagwati Nagar early this morning included 3330 male, 915 female, 28 children, 123 Sadhus and 28 Sadhvis. All these pilgrims had reached to their respective base camps by this evening where from they will leave for darshan of holy cave early tomorrow morning.
The pilgrims leaving from Baltal track will reach cave shrine by the evening while those from Chandanwari route have to stay at different halting stations for three nights before reaching holy cave.
Meanwhile, thousands of pilgrims are reaching here daily from different parts of country to embark on holy pilgrimage of Shri Amarnath Ji. Reports said that over 3000 pilgrims had managed to enter Bhagwati Nagar base Yatri Niwas by this evening where from they will leave for twin base camps early tomorrow morning.
In addition to this, hundreds of pilgrims are camping at Saraswati Dham and Vaishnavi Dham near Railway Station. A large number of Sadhus are also camping at Ram Mandir Purani Mandi and Geeta Bhawan, Parade. The management committees of these temples have arranged free boarding and lodging facilities for the Sadhus besides the free langars.
The 52 -day yatra which started on June 29 will culminate on Shravan Purnima falling on August 19 the day coinciding with Hindu festival of Raksha Bandhan.
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