Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, July 15 : With the death of two more pilgrims today, the toll in the ongoing Amarnath yatra has touched 84 while a fresh batch of 17,174 pilgrims performed darshan in holy cave in South Kashmir district of Anantnag till late tonight.
Two pilgrims identified as R P Thakur of Chandigarh died at Pissu top today, due to cardiac arrest while another pilgrim identified as Nand Kishore of UP died at Baltal Hospital after suffering a massive heart attack, officials said. The yatri was taken to hospital as he complained severe chest pain and breathlessness this morning, they added.
With the darshan of 17,174 pilgrims in the cave shrine today the total number of yatris visiting holy cave since the yatra started on June 25 has touched 4,80,301. A total number of 4.63 pilgrims had performed darshan in holy cave till late last night.
The officials said braving rains and slippery tracks 4,430 pilgrims left Nunwan-Pahalgam base camp for holy cave in the morning via traditional Chandanwari track while 6,061 pilgrims left via shortest Baltal track.
They said the yatra passed smoothly and no untoward incident was reported from anywhere. However the weather remained overcast with clouds for the entire day.
The yatrtis who left via Baltal track returned towards the base camp by this evening after performing the darshan while those who left via Chandanwari track after a night halt at Sheshnag and Panchtarni respectively will perform darshan tomorrow or day after tomorrow, the officials said.
The sky will remain cloudy on both Baltal and Pahalgam tracks and there could be rain or thundershowers during the next 24 hours, a Met Department spokesman said.
The officials said those yatris who had night halt at different halting stations enroute also started their onward journey this morning while those who had darshan also started their return journey.
The yatris going for medical check up at Baltal Hospital alleged that doctors asked them to purchase medicines from outside as no medicare facilities are available in Hospital.
A fresh batch of 2,975 pilgrims left Bhagwati Nagar Jammu Yatri Niwas for holy cave amidst tight security arrangements in a cavalcade of 112 buses early this morning.
After a night halt at Baltal and Nunwan base camps they will leave for onwards sojourn early morning tomorrow.
Meanwhile, authorities today detained a helicopter belonging to a private operator for allegedly making unauthorised sorties between Srinagar and Baltal, the base camp of the Amarnath yatra, in Ganderbal district of Kashmir.
The helicopter was detained by the security officials as it landed at Baltal with five passengers on board at 7.30 AM. The passengers took another chopper to proceed to the holy cave shrine, official sources said.
They said as the passengers boarded the chopper without any boarding passes, an inquiry was conducted and it was found that it did not have any permission from the competent authority to fly yatris from Srinagar to Baltal.
The security officials at Baltal suspect that licensed helicopter operators are working in connivance with the private operator to ferry high paying pilgrims from Srinagar to the shrine via Baltal route, the sources said.
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