Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 10: Thousands of yatris continued to remain stranded at various places in the State as Amarnath yatra was suspended for the third consecutive day today and no pilgrim was allowed to leave for holy cave from Jammu or return from base camps of Baltal and Nunwan, Pahalgam today.
According to an official spokesman, over 21,000 pilgrims were stranded at Baltal base camp in Ganderbal district of Central Kashmir alone while 1581 are stranded at Nunwan, Pahalgam in South Kashmir district of Anantnag.
Reports reaching here said that there was total chaos at Baltal base camp as there was space crunch to accommodate the increasing number of pilgrims reaching there daily after performing darshan at holy cave.
Due to the lack of proper accommodation and exorbitant rates being charged by tent people, some yatris have preferred to take shelter in the private vehicles as they have also run short of money and were unable to bear the rates of tents. However, some yatris managed to reach the tourist destination of Sonamarg at their own risk, sources said.
Sources said over 3000 yatris are stranded at Sonamarg. They have taken refuge in local hotels there. The administration is also unable to tackle such a huge rush and it has failed to maintain a check on tent owners who are charging high rates though the Shrine Board, which has given permission to the people to erect tents, has also fixed the rates for the same, sources added.
Some yatris, who contacted Excelsior on phone from Baltal, said that they are being charged 50 percent to 75 percent more rates than what has been fixed by the Board. Some yatris are in great desperation as they have run short of money too, they added.
Meanwhile, a fresh batch of 8,611 pilgrims performed darshan at holy cave on the 9th day of yatra today. With this total number of pilgrims performing darshan in holy cave during last nine days has reached 1,27, 358. However, no yatri left from Nunwan base camp to holy cave today as yatra from Jammu remained suspended for last two days. The pilgrims who had managed to reach Baltal yesterday from Manigam and Shadipora transit camps left for darshan of Ice Lingam early this morning, an official spokesman said.
He said over 500 yatris also reached base camp of Baltal today who were stranded at different places at Srinagar.
Meanwhile one pilgrim Abhishekh S/o Jawahar Lal of Lucknow UP died at Bus Stand Baltal this morning due to cardiac arrest. With this death toll during ongoing yatra has touched seven.
About 10,000 yatris are stranded at various places in Jammu including the Jammu Yatri Niwas, Saraswati, Vaishnavi and Kalika Dhams at Railway Head, Geeta Bhawan, Aggarwal Sabha, Baba Aasa Ram Ashram and other community halls and private hotels.
Over 500 pilgrims have taken refuge at Baba Barfani Langar at Chan Arorian, Kathua as they were not allowed to proceed ahead.
The Sarswati Dham, Vaishnavi Dham and Kalika Dham at Railhead are full with pilgrims and there is no space for accommodating more yatris. However, hundreds of pilgrims also reached here from different parts of the country for the pilgrimage of holy Amarnath cave. They were in high spirits.
Over 50 pilgrims who reached here from Andhra Pradesh said they will leave for the darshan of holy cave and were not scared by the Valley situation.
Similar were the views of yatris who were waiting in long queues for registration at Vaishnavi Dham. They said Government has to deal with law and order situation we will definitely go for Bholay Baba’s darshan come what may.
However, some yatris criticized the administration and registration authorities for not clearing their registration on the date they reached Jammu. Some yatris said that they were waiting for last five days for registration and today they were given the date of darshan on July 12. “As per our budget we had planed one day stay at Jammu and now it will be over a week here if yatra remains further suspended”, said a pilgrim Ram Kumar from Mumbai.
Mohit a pilgrim from Kolkata said that he is visiting for darshan for third consecutive year and he had not seen such problem during previous two years. Similar were views of Ramesh Soodan from Indore MP.
Meanwhile, P.K. Tripathi, Chief Executive Officer of the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board, has been in sustained contact with the State Police since Saturday morning and issuing the required instructions to the Yatra Camp directors several times a day to ensure that the maximum possible number of pilgrims are enabled to complete their pilgrimage.
While the State Cabinet met today and reviewed the overall security situation, including issues relating to the safety of tourists and pilgrims, Governor N.N. Vohra, Chairman of the Shrine Board, has convened a meeting with the State Chief Secretary, DGP and Home Secretary tomorrow to review the various issues relating to the Yatra.
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