Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 11: On the 41st day of darshan today, 197 pilgrims paid obeisance to Ice Lingam in holy cave of Swami Amarnath situated at an altitude of 13000 feet in deep Himalayas in South Kashmir district of Anantnag.
With this, the total number of pilgrims paying obeisance to Ice Lingam in cave shrine since the 48 day long Swami Amarnath Yatra started on July 2 has touched 2,19,296.
According to sources, there is no hustle and bustle on both the base camps of Baltal and Nunwan -Pahalgam as well as transit camps of Chandanwari, Sheshnag and Panchtarni which wore a deserted look now. The Langer people, pony wallas and people erecting tents for pilgrims during yatra period have already packed up as yatra has been reduced to few hundreds now.
According to an official spokesman, 39 pilgrims left Chandanwari transit camp for holy cave via traditional Sheshnag and Panchtarni track today for darshan. He said 33 pilgrims returned by foot to Nunwan base camp after performing darshan at cave shrine today.
He said 15 pilgrims left for darshan to holy cave by chopper from Pahalgam today while 10 returned to Pahalgam after performing darshan by chopper.
The spokesman said 41 pilgrims are staying at Nunwan Base camp for night while 128 left for Jammu late last night.
The spokesman said 65 pilgrims left from Baltal to holy cave via shortest track while 88 pilgrims reached Baltal from Srinagar this morning.
He said weather on both the yatra tracks as well as holy cave was cloudy today.
Meanwhile, a fresh batch of 139 pilgrims in two buses and five LMVs left Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas for two base camps of Baltal and Nunwan today under tight security arrangements. These pilgrims will leave for holy cave from the two base camps in Valley early tomorrow morning.
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