Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, June 28: On the first day of darshan for 45 -day long holy Amarnath yatra 8899 pilgrims paid obeisance to Icy lingam of Lord Shiva at holy Amarnath cave up to late tonight.
A spokesman of Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) said that 8899 pilgrims performed darshan in cave shrine today while, 7900 pilgrims left for holy cave situated at an altitude of 1400 feet in deep Himalays in South Kashmir district of Anantnag from Baltal -Dumel track.
The yatris, who performed darshan in holy cave started their return journey to Baltal while after the night haltage they will proceed to Srinagar tomorrow, spokesman added.
However, yatra could not resume from traditional Pahalgam-Chandanwari route due to snowy track as the track is not safe for pilgrimage.
The Shrine Board has not permitted the on spot registration from Chandanwari track up to June 30. However Chief Executive Officer, of the Board Rakesh Gupta has informed the administration and tourism authorities at Jammu and Srinagar to allow the on spot registration for pilgrims undertaking the yatra via Baltal route from today, a spokesman said.
He said on the instruction of CEO, the on spot registration counters started functioning at Vaishnavi Dham, Saraswati Dham, Jammu Haat and Ram Mandir Jammu in Jammu district and at TRC, Nowgam in Srinagar.
Meanwhile, two pilgrims died on the very first day of yatra on way to holy cave today at Brarimarg near holy cave and Ramban in Jammu region. They were identified as 31 year old Sunildhar Malvi of Malavi of Maharashtra and B V Bhandari of Gujarat. While Malvi died of heart attack on way to holy cave at Brarimarg today, Bhandari complained chest pain while traveling in a Tata Tempo. He was shifted to District Hospital Ramban by his colleagues where doctors declared him as brought dead.
For bettering facilities for the yatris the Governor N N Vohra who is the chairman of SASB along with Minister of Tourism, G A Mir and MLA Pahalgam Rafiq Ahmed Mir today inaugurated the helicopter service to Panjtarni at Pahalgam today.
The Minister also reviewed the yatra arrangements during his visit to yatra stations at Pahalgam. The Minister was accompanied by DDC Anantnag Saugat Biswas, DIG CRPF South Range, OS Charak and other senior civil and police officers.
The Minister expressed his satisfaction over the snow clearance on the yatra route from Sheshnag and the deployment of necessary men and machinery which has been placed well in time by the local administration.
He directed the concerned officers to gear up and speed up snow clearance on remaining spots so that the yatra from Pahalgam route to commence soon.
A deputation of tent wallas met the Minster at Panjtarni and put forth their demands. He gave on spot directions for disposal of their demands.
A second batch of 712 pilgrims left the Bhagwati Nagar base camp for holy cave today in a cavalcade of 34 vehicles under tight security. They included 626 men, 102 female and 14 children. These yatris had reached Manigam camp late in the evening where from they will proceed to Baltal in the morning tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Sadhus have expressed their anguish of not opening the traditional Pahalgam track for pilgrimage and accused the Board of slow process on the snow clearance on the track. When the Board made announcement two months back giving the yatra date and schedule why could not it open the track up to now, said Baba Sidhanand of Bajrangi Akhara.
He said hundreds of Sadhus are waiting here for over a week to leave for darshan but the administration has failed to open the traditional track as per schedule.
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