Amid decline in arrival of devotees, Amarnath Yatra remains suspended from Jammu
STATE TIMES NEWS
ANANTNAG: The auspicious Charri Mubarak reached the historic Surya Temple of Mattan from Srinagar on Sunday which was welcomed by all sects and beliefs of the locality along with the representatives of the Mattan Tirith Trust.
It is pertinent to mention that Puja of the Charri Mubarak is held at various places enroute to Holy Cave and has to stay at various padavus {stations} as per the past Hindu religious practices.
The Charri Mubarak has to reach Holy cave on 11th of August on Sharvan Purnima. Puja of Charri Mubarak was held by the sadu mandals and other devotees at Mattan in presence of a large number of locals and officials.
While speaking on the occasion, Mahendra Giri briefly gave the religious and historic importance of the Amarnathji Yatra and Shrine.
He added that devotees show satisfaction over the arrangements made by the UT government of J&K for smooth conduct of SANJY and hospitality of kashmiri people have always made the yatra enriching spiritually.
While answering the questions of the media, Mahant Mahendra Giri said that for prosperity to prevail, peace is the prerequisite condition and appealed to the people to shower love on everyone irrespective of creed, colour and caste.
The officers of District administration, officials of the Health, MC Mattan, Information, Revenue and others were present on the occasion. President Mattan Tirith Trust, Ashok Sidha was also present in the ceremonies at Mattan.
Later on, the Chadi Mubarak was taken to Shri Gorishankar Temple, Pahalgam from Mattan where it shall stay for a night and leave towards Holy Cave tomorrow, halting for a night at each Yatra Station.
Meanwhile, The Amarnath yatra remained suspended from the Bhagwati Nagar base camp here for the second day owing to a sharp decline in the arrival of pilgrims, officials said.
However, a fresh batch of 378 pilgrims left the base camp to pay obeisance at the shrine of Buddha Amarnath in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, they added.
The 43-day annual pilgrimage to the 3,880-metre-high cave shrine commenced on June 30 from the twin routes — the traditional 48-km Nunwan-Pahalgam route in Anantnag and the 14-km shorter Baltal route in Ganderbal — and is scheduled to end on August 11 on the occasion of “Shravan Purnima” coinciding with “Raksha Bandhan”.
“The Amarnath yatra remained suspended from Jammu due to the non-availability of adequate numbers of pilgrims…. We might send one more batch before the culmination of the yatra, depending on the availability of pilgrims,” an official said.
The officials said the Bhagwati Nagar base camp is wearing a deserted look for the last few days, prompting the community kitchen operators to wind up their services.
On August 2, Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha had appealed to the pilgrims to visit the cave shrine before August 5 in view of a forecast of inclement weather and more rains after that.
Nearly three lakh pilgrims visited the cave shrine, housing a naturally formed ice-shivling, this year.
Meanwhile, the 11-day Buddha Amarnath pilgrimage is scheduled to conclude on August 8 with the departure of the “Chari Mubarak” from Shri Dashnami Akhara in Poonch.
There were 90 women and two children in the fresh batch of pilgrims that left the Bhagwati Nagar base camp on Sunday morning, the officials said.
They said the pilgrimage is progressing smoothly and thousands of devotees have so far visited the shrine since the commencement of the yatra on July 29.