Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, July 2: With over 8000 pilgrims paying obeisance at holy cave of Amarnath on Day one of the darshan as the two month long Amarnath yatra started from here yesterday, Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh and Governor, N N Vohra, who is also the chairman of Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB), performed the pratham poojan at cave shrine in a traditional way today.
According to an official spokesman, 8401 pilgrims performed darshan at holy cave situated at an altitude of 3888 meters in deep Himalayas in South Kashmir district of Anantnag on first day of darshan today. As the yatra commenced from Baltal and Pahalgam tracks today 4169 yatris left via traditional Pahalgam track while 6782 left from shortest Baltal route for holy cave early this morning.
Spokesman said 5,488 pilgrims had reached at Base Camp Baltal by 4 pm today from different parts of the country while others were on their way. The pilgrims who had performed their darshan at holy cave were on their way to Baltal and Pahalgam base camps.
The Union Home Minister who was accompanied by senior Army, civil and police officers and members of the Shrine Board later returned towards Capital city Srinagar. Mr Singh, who is on a two day visit to the State, flew to the cave shrine early in the morning and performed the special prayers along with Governor, officials said. Both Home Minister and Governor paid obeisance at sanctum sanctorum and prayed for peace.
Singh also interacted with pilgrims at the cave shrine and took stock of the arrangements for the yatris. Rajnath Singh is the first Union Home Minister who paid obeisance at holy cave on the first day of darshan and participated in pratham poojan.
After visiting the holy shrine, the Governor reviewed the arrangements made for the pilgrims at the yatra Shrine Camp and conveyed the Shrine Board’s thanks to all agencies for their support and cooperation. He stressed the need for effective supervision and round the clock monitoring by the camp directors and all the functionaries involved in the management of the yatra.
Spokesman said 978 pilgrims left for holy cave by air also. Over 3000 yatris are stationed at Pahalgam who reached there today from different parts of country for their onwards journey to holy cave early tomorrow morning.
Chanting Bum Bum Bolay and Har Har Mahadev over 2200 pilgrims left for the Yatra on the first day from Nunwan Base Camp at Pahalgam. They were joined by over 2000 devotees who were staying at various hotels in Pahalgam at Chandanwari.
Deputy Commissioner Anantnag, Bashir Ahmad while flagging of the first batch of yatris from Nunwan camp said that 2230 yatris had arrived in the camp last night. He said that elaborate arrangements for food, medicine and security has been provided to the yatris along the entire route. He said that only registered yatris with medical certificate are allowed to proceed to yatra.
SSP Anantnag, Abdul Jabbar said that elaborate security arrangements have been made for the smooth conduct of Yatra. He said that Police, Army, ITBP, BSF and CRPF are providing round the clock security to the Yatra. He said NDRF, SDRF and medical teams are deployed all along upto Holy Cave and logistic support is also being provided in case of bad weather. “We are ready to deal with any kind of situation”, he said.
Shalin Kumar Verma from Banaras UP said that he is happy with the arrangements made for the yatra. He said that the administration has done excellent job in providing best accommodation to them.
A French woman, Matinee had come all the way from France to perform the Yatra. “I am doing it for the first time. It is going to be good journey. I am a Shiva bakht and He brings me here”, she said.
A group of Ramda Jogi have come from all the way from Badrinath on foot to perform the Pooja. Ganesh Puri said that they came from Uttarakhand, Badrinath, Gangotri and now will stay at Amarnath cave shrine for next two months.
Spokesperson said that Board and Government have made elaborate arrangements for the pilgrims this time and langers have been installed at every where on both the tracks for pilgrims by various NGOs.
Meanwhile, second batch of 1525 pilgrims left from Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas from here to holy cave early this morning under tight security arrangements in a cavalcade of 36 vehicles.
They included 1074 male, 236 female, seven children and 206 Sadhus.
The yatris have crossed the Jawahar Tunnel by this evening and were on their way to base camps of Pahalgam and Baltal.
Chanting Bum Bum Bolay and Har Har Mahadev these yatris were dancing to the beatings of drums.
For the facility of Amarnath pilgrims 15th langer was inaugurated at Kud by Brick Kiln Owners Association of Jammu under the supervision of its president Janak Raj Mahajan. The Association is serving free langer to pilgrims for last 15 years at Kud.
A function was held on the occasion which besides the prominent people and Sadhus was also attended by general secretary of the Association Prabu Dayal Gupta, its secretary Ranjit Singh Manhas, Manmohan Singh and Naseeb Singh Langeh.
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