"The commencement of the Amarnath Yatra was considerably delayed on Thursday morning due to continuing rain since last night. As it could commence only in the afternoon, from both the Baltal and the Pahalgam routes, only 1,316 yatris were able to start the journey through the Baltal route and 60 through the Pahalgam route," a spokesman of the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) said
Weather played spoilsport on the first day of the Amarnath Yatra as heavy rainfall delayed the commencement of the annual pilgrimage, resulting in only 1,007 pilgrims paying obeisance to the naturally formed ice-lingam at the holy cave shrine in the south Kashmir Himalayas.
"The commencement of the Amarnath Yatra was considerably delayed on Thursday morning due to continuing rain since last night. As it could commence only in the afternoon, from both the Baltal and the Pahalgam routes, only 1,316 yatris were able to start the journey through the Baltal route and 60 through the Pahalgam route," a spokesman of the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) said. He added that by the evening, 1,007 pilgrims had paid obeisance at the holy cave. Intermittent rains during the day forced the authorities to suspend the yatra briefly on the Baltal route as the pilgrims were asked to stay put at the Domel camp. However, as the weather improved, the pilgrimage was resumed in the afternoon.
Amid tight security, the first batch of nearly 3,000 pilgrims from Jammu reached the twin base camps of Baltal and Pahalgam in Kashmir last evening. After getting road clearance, the second batch of 3,434 pilgrims left the Bhagwati Nagar base camp at Jammu for Kashmir in the early hours today, officials said, adding that they were expected to reach the base camps of Nunwan-Pahalgam and Baltal in the Valley later in the day. Over two lakh pilgrims have so far registered for the 60-day yatra, which is scheduled to conclude on August 26, coinciding with the "Raksha Bandhan".
A total of 2.6 lakh pilgrims had offered prayers at the shrine last year. The government is, for the first time, using radio-frequency (RF) tags to track the Amarnath-bound vehicles, while the CRPF has introduced motorcycle squads with cameras and various life-saving equipment. The security has been heightened for this year's yatra in view of the militant attack on a bus carrying Amarnath pilgrims last year that had left eight of them dead and 18 injured. Around 40,000 security personnel from the Jammu and Kashmir Police, paramilitary forces, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the Army have been deployed for this year's pilgrimage.
Considering the condition of the existing tracks and other infrastructure, the SASB has decided to allow 7, 500 pilgrims on each route per day. While the pilgrims undertaking the yatra via the shorter Baltal route usually return to the base camp within a day, those taking the traditional Pahalgam route have to trek 42 kms, with an overnight stay at one of the halting stations, before they can pay obeisance at the cave shrine.
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 "Amarnath Yatra underway")
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