6000 halted at Chanderkot
Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, July 13: With unabated rush of Amarnath Ji pilgrims continuing, 16,000 yatris paid obeisance to naturally formed Lord Shiva’s Ice Lingam in holy cave at the height of 3880 meters by this evening taking total to 1,62,569 since the 62 day pilgrimage started on July 1.
Officials said 16061 pilgrims from twin tracks of Nunwan -Pahalgam in South Kashmir’s Anantnag district and Baltal in Central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district paid obeisance at Himalayan cave of Lord Shiva by this evening.
Those who performed darshan at holy cave today included 12701 male, 2945 female, 236 children, 176 Sadhus and three Sadhvis, officials said, adding the yatra is going on smoothly and pilgrims are fully satisfied with the arrangements and facilities provided by the Shrine Board and administration.
Officials said the combine team of JKAP 9th Bn, JKP and SDRF recovered an unidentified dead body from Umravati today. The cause of his death is being ascertained as the body has been taken to base hospital.
The weather in the entire yatra area was dry today and the yatra plied smoothly on both the tracks, officials added.
They said 21,000 pilgrims were staying at Baltal base camp during last night while 9,338 pilgrims were staying at Nunwan -Pahalgam base camp.
Besides, thousands of pilgrims were also staying at different transit camps via Baltal track to holy cave.
A fresh batch of 9241 pilgrims left the Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas here early this morning in a cavalcade of 306 vehicles under tight security arrangements.
Among them, 3206 preferred the shortest Baltal track while 6035 preferred the traditional and longest Nunwan -Pahalgam track.
However, the 6035 yatris via Pahalgam track were stopped at Chanderkot Yatri Niwas in Ramban district by the administration to avert heavy rush at Nunwan -Pahalgam, officials said.
They said these pilgrims will be allowed to leave for holy cave early tomorrow morning.
The yatris who were stopped at Chanderkot for night halt were also in a jubilant mood dancing and chanting Bum Bum Bholey during the day.
Meanwhile, a day after Tatkal registration for the Amarnath Yatra resumed here after suspension for three days, hundreds of people thronged the on-the-spot booking counters.
The Tatkal registration was resumed on Wednesday after the pilgrimage was suspended from Saturday to Monday due to inclement weather and the closure of the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway for repairs in the Ramban section.
Braving the hot and humid weather conditions, devotees including women are patiently waiting in long queues to get a registration token.
“We have been waiting in long queues since morning for the registration. We will first get a token and then have to get a health checkup done, only after which we can proceed with the registration process,” Kapil Dev Pandey, a Maharashtra resident who came here for the pilgrimage, said.
Pandey, however, pointed out that there should be more counters to attend to the huge number of people. Over 1,500 unregistered pilgrims, including women, who have arrived in Jammu city, have been registered so far for the Yatra to the 3,880-metre-high cave shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas.
Five counters have been set up for Tatkal registration of the devotees. While three counters have been put up at Vaishnavi Dham, Mahajan Sabha, and Panchayat Ghar for registration of the general public, two have been set up at Geeta Bhawan and Ram Mandir for the registration of ‘sadhus’, the officials said.
Dharminder Bhargava, a pilgrim from Madhya Pradesh, standing in the queue for three hours, said he arrived here a week ago and has been waiting for the Amarnath Yatra registration to resume.
“We visited the Mata Vaishnodevi cave shrine during the suspension of Yatra last week. There should have been more counters so that registrations could have been conducted faster,” Bhargava said.
Pilgrims waiting in the queues said the shelter and drinking water facilities at the registration spots were inadequate.
Over 53,000 devotees in 11 batches have left for the shrine from the Jammu base camp.
The Yatra remained suspended for three days from Saturday to Monday and was resumed on Tuesday from Jammu. In view of the suspension, around 8,000 pilgrims were stranded in Jammu, particularly the Bhagwatinagar base camp.
The 62-day annual pilgrimage to the Amarnath cave shrine began on July 1 and is scheduled to conclude on August 31.
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