Over 4.65 lakh pilgrims visit Amarnathji Shrine, surpass last year’s record

1,800 pilgrims leave Jammu for Yatra

STATE TIMES NEWS

SRINAGAR/JAMMU: The number of pilgrims who paid obeisance to Lord Shiva at Amarnath cave shrine in South Kashmir in this year’s yatra has crossed 4.65 lakh, surpassing the total number of pilgrims who visited the naturally formed ice lingam last year.
According to officials, over 7,500 pilgrims paid obeisance at the 3,880 metre high cave shrine on Monday. This has taken the number of pilgrims this year to 4,66,342 as against 4.59 lakh pilgrims last year.
“As many as 7,556 pilgrims performed the yatra on Monday and had darshan of Baba Bholenath on the 31st day of the annual yatra,” the officials said.
The officials said 4,364 male pilgrims, 1,791 female pilgrims, 148 Sadhus and one Sadhvis were among those who paid obeisance at the cave shrine. Over 1,100 security forces and 106 children also performed the pilgrimage.
As per the officials, there have been two deaths — a sevadar from Haryana and a pilgrim from Jharkhand — in this year’s yatra. Both the deceased suffered cardiac arrest along the Baltal route in June.
Meanwhile, more than 1,800 pilgrims left a base camp in Jammu for the 3,880-metre-high Amarnath cave shrine in the south Kashmir Himalayas amid tight security arrangements this morning , officials said.
The 32th batch of 1,832 pilgrims left the Bhagwati Nagar base camp at 3.22 am in a convoy of 62 vehicles escorted by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the officials said.
The group included 1,358 men, 363 women, two children, and 109 sadhus and sadhvis, they said.
While 1,263 pilgrims will reach Pahalgam to undertake the annual pilgrimage through the traditional 48-km route in Anantnag district, 569 have opted for the shorter but steeper 14-km Baltal route in Ganderbal district.
Since June 28, when Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha flagged off the first batch of pilgrims from Jammu, a total of 1,38,816 pilgrims have embarked on the annual pilgrimage from the base camp from Jammu.
The 52-day yatra, which commenced formally on June 29 from the Baltal and Pahalgam base camps in Kashmir, is scheduled to conclude on August 19.