Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 28: On the 28th day of yatra, over 7,000 pilgrims paid obeisance to naturally formed Ice Shivlingam in 3888 metre high Himalayan cave in Lidder Valley of South Kashmir’s Anantnag district, today.
Click here to watch video
Officials said that 7,783 pilgrims from twin tracks of Baltal and Nunwan-Ganderbal performed darshan at cave shrine by this evening. With this, total number of 3,77,071 pilgrims visited holy cave since the 62 -day long yatra started on July 1 this year.
Among the 7,783 pilgrims who performed darshan today included 5,899 male, 1,702 female, 107 children, 73 Sadhus ,one Sadhvi and one transgender, officials said.
They said among the 3.77 lakh pilgrims who visited holy cave from different parts of country and abroad so far majority has returned to their home States and others are on way. The yatris who paid obeisance at cave shrine today also started their return journey to Baltal base camp and Panchtarni transit camp, they added.
They said the weather in holy cave area remained partly rainy and partly dry during the day but it rained in holy cave area during night hours. However, the yatra moved smoothly without any disturbances, they added.
Officials said 2,041 pilgrims were staying at Nnwan base camp during the last night while 1,932 left for cave shrine from there in the early morning. They said 2,276 pilgrims were staying at Sheshnag transit camp during last night.
Officials said that the chopper services also moved normally during the day to ferry the pilgrims to and fro.
Meanwhile, the death toll during the ongoing pilgrimage has risen to 41, officials said. They said yesterday one male pilgrim identified as Haradan Saini, 46 son of Sadhan Saini of Ashok Path near Babaloknath Path Kadma Bhatia Basti, Jamshedpur , Jharkhand died at Railpathri. His dead body was found in deep nallah in between Railpathri to Upper Z Morh. His body has been shifted to Baltal for legal formalities, officials said.
To see the security and other arrangements made by BSF for ongoing yatra, Special Director General BSF, Western Command, P V Rama Sastry visited Panchtarni transit camp today. He was accompanied by other senior officers of BSF.
Officials said three persons including two pilgrims got injured today when an escort vehicle of an Amarnath yatra convoy skidded off the road in Ramban district.
The accident took place on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway in the Gangroo area, they added.
The vehicle was part of Amarnath Ji yatra to the Baltal base camp, the officials said.
They said two pilgrims Adarsh Kumar, Manju Sharma and driver Ankush Sharma suffered minor injuries and they were shifted to hospital immediately.
The 26th batch of 2,155 pilgrims left Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas here early this morning for Baltal and Nunwan-Pahalgam base camps in a cavalcade of 95 vehicles under tight security arrangements.
Among them, 1402 pilgrims preferred the traditional and longest Nunwan-Pahalgam track in South Kashmir district of Anantnag while 753 opted for shortest but tough route of Baltal in Ganderbal district of Central Kashmir.
This is the lowest batch of pilgrims which so far left Bhagwati Nagar base camp for holy cave since the first batch of the yatra was flagged off on June 30 by Lt Governor, Manoj Sinha. These pilgrims included 1660 male, 443 female, six children, 34 Sadhus and 12 Sadhvis.
The 62-day long yatra will culminate on Shravan Purnima coinciding with Raksha Bandhan festival falling on August 31.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
