Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, July 5: On the fifth day of the ongoing yatra over 18,000 pilgrims performed darshan at holy cave of Swami Amarnath Ji situated in deep Himalayas of South Kashmir’s Anantnag district from twin tracks of Baltal and Nunwan by 1900 hours today.
As per reports, there was a heavy rush of pilgrims at cave shrine and yatris were waiting in long queues from early morning for their turn of darshan. Reports said by this evening 18,354 pilgrims braving chilly and cloudy weather waited for hours together for their turn of darshan at holy cave.
The cumulative figure of the yatris who performed darshan at cave shrine since the 62 day pilgrimage started on July 1 has reached 67,566. Today’s number was highest in last five days of pilgrimage.
Reports said Indian Navy Chief, Admiral R Hari Kumar also performed darshan at cave shrine today. He visited the holy cave through a special chopper.
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Reports said that the weather remained cloudy and chilly in the yatra area and it rained at various occasions during the day. The entire yatra area is agog with religious festivities as thousands of pilgrims were seen moving up and down from twin tracks chanting ‘Bhum Bhum Bhole’ and ‘Baba Barfani Ki Jai’.
Reports said that over 3000 pilgrims were camping at Panchtarni, the last transit camp on way to holy cave via Pahalgam track. Nodal Officer of Amarnath Ji yatra, Piyush Singla, District Development Commissioner, Anantnag who is also the Yatra Officer and CEO, Pahalgam Development Authority (PDA), Tariq Hussian along with other officers were camping at Panchtarni during the last night to see the yatra arrangements.
They interacted with pilgrims and enquired about the arrangements from them. They also interacted with the service providers and listened their problems. They sorted out issues on spot which were brought in their notice by service providers.
CEO PDA, Tariq Hussian told this correspondent that SASB and civil administration had made all arrangements for the convenience of the yatris. The entire team of administration was at Chandanwari for night to ascertain that the pilgrims are not facing difficulties. Extra care has been taken by the Government for the safety of the yatris this year, he added.
Reports said the majority of yatris who performed darshan at cave shrine in last four days have left for Srinagar and Jammu while others are on way.
Meanwhile, the sixth batch of 6,107 pilgrims left for twin base camps of Nunwan -Pahalgam in South Kashmir’s district of Anantnag and Baltal in Central Kashmir’s district of Ganderbal from Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas in a cavalcade of 244 vehicles under tight security arrangements early this morning.
Out of them, 3,929 pilgrims preferred the traditional Nunwan Pahalgam track while 2,178 preferred the shortest Baltal track for pilgrimage. All these pilgrims had reached their respective base camps by this evening.
Thousands of pilgrims continue to reach Jammu daily from across the country for their onwards pilgrimage to holy cave. Over 3000 pilgrims were camping at Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas by this evening while thousands were staying at other haltage places and hotels in the city.
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