Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 7: As yatra remained disturbed due to slippery track yesterday and pilgrims from Baltal and Nunwan base camps were not allowed to leave for cave shrine, over 22, 000 pilgrims paid obeisance at holy cave of Shri Amarnath Ji situated in deep Himalayas at a height of 3888 meters by this evening , while a fresh batch of 6145 pilgrims left for twin base camps of Nunwan-Pahalgam and Baltal-Sonamarg under tight security arrangements form Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas early this morning in a cavalcade of 238 light and heavy motor vehicles.
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Officials said 22,639 pilgrims paid obeisance at Himalayan cave in South Kashmir’s district of Anantnag from twin tracks of Baltal and Chandanwari by this evening besides, hundreds of pilgrims reached holy cave through various chopper services during the day.
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They included 14736 male, 5231 female, 253 children, 315 Sadhus, five Sadhvis and two others besides 2097 security personnel and service providers.
With this, a total number of 1,82,137 pilgrims visited holy cave in last nine days since the 52-day pilgrimage started on June 29.
Officials said as yatra remained affected yesterday due to slippery track due to which there was a huge rush at cave shrine from early this morning and pilgrims were seen waiting from wee hours till late evening to have darshan of Ice Lingam.
The yatris who performed darshan at cave shrine today started their return journey to Baltal and Panchtarni- the last halting station on way to holy cave on Nunwan Chandanwari track, officials said.
They said it drizzled for a while near cave shrine area during this afternoon but the yatra plied smoothly without any disturbance.
Officials said that among the 6145 pilgrims who left Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas today included 4695 male, 1164 female, 19 children, 167 Sadhus and 36 Sadhvis. Among them, 2697 yatris preferred the shortest Baltal track while 3448 opted for the longest and traditional Pahalgam Chandanwari route.
These yatris will leave for holy cave from there early tomorrow morning under tight security arrangements. Officials said thousands of pilgrims are staying at Baltal and Nunwan base camps.
The Yatris who had reached Nunwan and Baltal base camps yesterday started their onwards sojourn early this morning.
Meanwhile, heavy rush of pilgrims is continuing and thousands of yatris reached here from different parts of the country today. Officials said about 5000 pilgrims are camping at Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas to leave for twin base camps of Nunwan and Baltal early tomorrow morning. Besides, thousands of pilgrims are camping at Saraswati Dham and Vaishnavi Dham near Railway Station.
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