Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 11: The number of pilgrims visiting holy cave is decreasing day by day. On the 42nd day of darshan today, over 1,600 pilgrims drawn from different parts of country paid obeisance to naturally formed Ice Shivlingam of Lord Shiva in 3888 meter high Himalayan cave in South Kashmir’s Anantnag district.
With the constant decline in yatra rush, Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) which is managing the annual yatra has decided to run yatra on alternate days from Jammu to holy cave from today with the result no yatri convoy from here left for holy cave today, officials said.
In comparison to thousands of pilgrims reporting at Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas daily during the month of July to proceed towards holy cave, the number has been confined to few hundred pilgrims now who are reaching here from different parts of country. This forced the authorities to run yatra on alternate days from today, officials said.
They said 1,662 pilgrims from twin tracks of Baltal and Nunwan-Pahalgam performed darshan at holy cave by this evening. With this, the total number of 4,30,073 pilgrims visited the holy cave in last 42 days since the start of 62 day long yatra on July 1 this year.
Officials said the majority of pilgrims who visited cave shrine by now have returned to their home states while others are on the way. The pilgrims who performed darshan today at holy cave also started their return journey towards base camp of Baltal and Transit Camp of Panchtarni , the officials added.
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