Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 17: Undeterred by yesterday’s cloud burst at three places on Kangan Baltal road and Sheshnag followed by heavy over night rainfall, 13, 718 pilgrims paid obeisance at holy cave of Swami Amarnath in South Kashmir district of Anantnag today. With this the total number of pilgrims performing darshan in cave shrine situated at an altitude of 3880 meters since the two month long yatra started on July 1 has touched 2,31,771.
According to an official spokesman 13, 718 pilgrims performed darshan in holy cave by this evening while 3005 pilgrims left from Baltal to cave shrine early this morning by foot and 191 left by chopper. He said 189 pilgrims also returned from holy cave by chopper.
He said 4585 pilgrims left from Nunwan -Pahalgam Base Camp to holy cave via shortest Chandanwari track while the pilgrims having night halt at Chandanwari, Sheshnag and Panchtarni also left for the cave shrine early this morning. He said the weather was cloudy today but there was no down pour.
The spokesman said 10,000 pilgrims are stranded at Baltal due to closure of Baltal-Srinagar road after it was washed away at two places due to cloudburst yesterday.
He said while the road from Neelgrad to Baltal was restored today by using the NDRF, local police and CRPF personnel, the road in between Kulan to Gund remained cut off and efforts are on to restore it also.
He said no yatri vehicle was allowed to leave for Srinagar from Baltal after the cloud burst yesterday and all pilgrims staying at Baltal are safe and sound. Moreover no yatri vehicle came from Srinagar to Baltal today also.
Meanwhile seven pilgrims died on way to holy cave during last two days. Out of them four pilgrims including a sevadar of a langer died yesterday at different places on the twin tracks of cave shrine while three died today.
Confirming the death of seven pilgrims in last two days an official spokesman said Piaray Lal, 45, S/o Kanya Lal a pilgrim from UP died of cardiac arrest near Sangam yesterday while Rajinder Singh 27 S/o Balbir Singh a pilgrim from Punjab passed away at Rail Pathri due to cardiac arrest.
He said Yougesh Rawal, 47, S/o Rajni Kant Rawal of MP died at Panchtarni due to natural death and Charanjit Makar, 58 S/o Ganesh of Jallandhar Cantonment Punjab who was a sevadar with a Langer died at Baltal base camp due to cardiac arrest.
Spokesman said the three pilgrims who died today on way to holy cave included Sat Paul Goel, 47, S/o Beli Ram Goel of Delhi. He died of cardiac arrest at Panchtarni. Amandeep Singh, 29, S/o Gurjant Singh of Punjab also died of cardiac arrest near holy caver, Bano Dass Solanki , S/o Kundlik Solanki of Maharashtra died of acute infection in body at Baltal base camp.
With these seven deaths so far 20 people have died on way to holy cave since two month long yatra started on July 1.
Spokesman said the dead bodies of these pilgrims have been kept in mortuary at Sonamarg as they could not be handed over to their relatives who wanted to take them to their respective states due to closure of Baltal -Srinagar road which was washed away at two places after cloud burst yesterday evening.
A fresh batch of 1449 pilgrims pilgrims left Bhagwati Nagar Jammu Base Camp for holy cave early this morning under tight security arrangements in a cavalcade of 42 vehicles. They included 1075 male, 214 female, 13 children and 145 Sadhus. All these vehicles had crossed to Jawahar Tunnel by this evening and they were on way to Pahalgam as no yatri bus can proceed via Kangan-Sonamarg to Baltal due to closure of road.
Meanwhile in a handout issued here today by Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) said that in the first 16 days of Shri Amarnathji Yatra, which commenced on July 2, 2015, more than 2.3 lakh Yatris paid obeisance at Holy Cave.
It said 15 pilgrims lost their lives in the Yatra area till date, out of whom 13 died due to medical reasons and 2 expired due to an accident and other reasons. In addition, one CRPF personnel died while on duty at the Holy Cave and one porter died after being washed away in Lider river, near Chandanwari.
CEO of the Shrine Board, P. K. Tripathi disclosed that State Health Department and other organizations have set up 66 medical camps on the Yatra route, at every 2 KMs to provide medical aid. Also the Shrine Board has put in place arrangements for providing immediate help and rescuing yatris in distress. Six Mountain Rescue Teams (MRTs), each comprising 10 highly trained personnel of the State Police, have been located at various vulnerable places enroute Holy Cave to undertake immediate evacuation of any Yatris in trouble. Critically injured and sick Yatris, service providers and others are also assisted by timely evacuation from the higher altitude camps to the lower camps to enable provision of adequate medical attention.
Once again advising all the Yatris to strictly follow the health advisory issued by the Shrine Board, the CEO has urged the Yatris to come fully prepared and achieving physical fitness before under taking the pilgrimage.
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