Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, July 16: Over 2.50 lakh pilgrims have performed darshan in holy cave of Swami Amarnath ji situated at an altitude of 3,880 metres in Lidder Valley in South Kashmir district of Anantnag during last 19 days of pilgrimage.
According to an official spokesman, 9,754 pilgrims drawn from different parts of country performed darshan at holy cave today while 248,186 pilgrims had performed darshan till late last night. With this the total number of pilgrims performing darshan in holy cave during last 19 days has touched 2,57,940, he added.
He said the yatra is proceeding smoothly from both Baltal and Chandanwari tracks. The 55 day long yatra, which started with Pratham darshan on June 28 will culminate on Sawan Purnima coinciding with Raksha Bandhan falling on August 21 after the holy mace of Lord Shiva performs darshan in the cave shrine.
The spokesman said that majority of yatris who performed the darshan in the holy cave during last 19 days have returned to their home states while others are on their way. He said the yatris who performed their darshan in cave shrine today have also started their return journey towards Baltal base camp and Panchtarni camp and after a night halt at Baltal they will start their journey towards Srinagar.
The spokesman said 3,710 pilgrims left the Nunwan-Pahalgam base camp towards holy cave under tight security arrangements early in the morning via traditional Chandanwari track. These yatris after night halt at Chandanwari, Sheshnag and Panchtarni camps will perform darshan at cave shrine on July 19.
He said 3,958 pilgrims left for holy cave from Baltal base camp via shorter track early this morning. They included 1,063 pilgrims who left by air, he added.
The spokesman said that the weather was cloudy on both the tracks entire day and the weather forecast for next 24 hours is that there will be rain fall or thunder showers at isolated places on holy cave routes.
The spokesman said the rush of pilgrims has considerably gone down and with 15,000 pilgrims performing darshan every day during first fortnight it has reduced to 10,000 pilgrims now.
Meanwhile, 20th batch of 1, 211 pilgrims left the Bhagwati Nagar Jammu base camp early this morning for holy cave under tight security arrangements in a cavalcade of 38 vehicles. They include 881 male, 222 female, 18 children and 90 Sadhus. The cavalcade had crossed the Jawahar tunnel by the evening and were on their way to Nunwan-Pahalgam and Baltal base camps respectively where from they will leave for holy cave tomorrow.
Follow our WhatsApp channel