Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, July 26: As the Srinagar –Baltal road remained cut off for second day today for vehicular traffic and no yatri could proceed from Summer capital and Manigam camp to Baltal, 4632 pilgrims paid obeisance to Ice Lingam of Lord Shiva in holy cave of Shri Amarnath Ji situated at an altitude of 3880 meters in deep Himalayas in South Kashmir district of Anantnag today.
With this, the total number of pilgrims performing darshan in holy cave since first batch of yatris left Bhagwati Nagar Jammu Yatri Niwas on July 1 touched 2,95,576.
Meanwhile, one labourer, who was injured during recent cloudburst at Baltal died at SKIMS Soura where he was admitted for treatment. He has been identified as Abdul Qayoom, S/o Abdul Rehman of South Kashmir district of Shopian. With this the toll in July 24 cloudburst at Baltal has reached 4 and the death toll in ongoing yatra has reached 32.
However, the Sonamarg-Baltal road which was washed away at Fish Point near Sonamarg will be restored for vehicular traffic by tomorrow. Governor, N N Vohra who is also the Chairman of Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) after reviewing the current status of restoration work with authorities of the Board was informed by CEO of SASB, P K Tripathi that complete men and machinery has been deployed for restoration work of the road and the same will be restored by tomorrow for the movement of vehicles of pilgrims from Manigam camp to Baltal.
The Governor was also informed that one person namely Abdul Karim, resident of Shopian who had been seriously injured in cloudburst on July 24, had been airlifted to Srinagar by the Shrine Board for the treatment at SKIMS, Srinagar. The other 10 persons, who had suffered minor injuries, have since been discharged from Baltal Base Hospital after receiving treatment.
The Governor was informed that power and water supply are fully functional and sufficient stocks of essential commodities are also available at the Base Camp. All the Langars, except one which suffered some damage, are functioning normally in Baltal.
Mr Tripathi during the meeting briefed Governor that today morning, 676 Yatris from the Baltal route and 953 Yatris from the Chandanwari route left for Holy Cave and 3924 Yatris, who had stayed overnight at the Sheshnag and Panchtarni Yatra Camps, had been able to complete their “darshan” by today afternoon.
The Governor was informed that, after the restoration of Srinagar-Baltal Road, the yatra was expected to resume vigour and momentum, from Monday onwards, if there were no unforeseen interruptions due to inclement weather.
An official spokesman, however, said that the weather was cloudy today also and it was drizzling on both the tracks during the day but the movement of pilgrims was not affected.
He said the yatra from Baltal side to holy cave has come to a grinding halt due to cloudburst in Baltal and other places on Sonamarg –Baltal road during late night hours on July 24 resulting into the death of three people and injury to 11 others.
However, the yatris who were camping at the Baltal or on their way to base camp on July 24 and were trapped on the road in between Sonamarg and Baltal managed to reach the base camp after traveling some kilometers by foot and later left for darshan from the Baltal base camp today.
The spokesman said that 676 stranded pilgrims from Baltal base camp left for cave shrine early this morning by foot while 473 left by chopper. Besides, 476 pilgrims returned after performing darshan by chopper.
The restoration work on the Sonamarg-Baltal road which was hit by landslide at Fish Point near Sonamarg two days back after cloudburst is on and most probably it will be restored by vehicular traffic by late tonight or tomorrow morning, he added.
However, the continuous cloudbursts and heavy rains have affected the flow of pilgrims and the rush has decreased to a great extent during last one week.
He said 4632 pilgrims performed darshan at holy cave by this evening and majority of them had come via traditional Chandanwari track. The yatris after performing darshan are also taking the Panchtarni -Chandanwari track for return, he added.
He said the rush from Pahalgam track is still considerably good as 2953 pilgrims left for darshan from Nunwan Base camp early this morning while the pilgrims having night halt at Chandanwari, Sheshnag and Panchtarni also left for holy cave under tight security measures early in the morning.
A fresh batch of 707 pilgrims left Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas for holy cave this morning under tight security measures in a cavalcade of 20 vehicles.
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