6,900 Amarnath pilgrims leave Jammu base camp for Kashmir

Jammu: Braving heavy rain, a fresh batch of over 6,900 pilgrims left the Bhagwati Nagar base camp here on Saturday to pay a visit to the Amarnath shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas, officials said.

About 30,000 pilgrims have prayed at the 3,880 metre-high cave shrine since July 3 when the 38-day annual yatra commenced from the twin tracks in Pahalgam in Anantnag district and Baltal in Ganderbal district.

The fourth batch of 6,979 pilgrims -- 5,196 men, 1,427 women, 24 children, 331 sadhus and sadhvis and one transgender -- left the Bhagwati Nagar base camp in two separate convoys between 3.30 am and 4.05 am amid tight security, officials said.

While 4,226 pilgrims left in 161 vehicles for Nunwan base camp for the 48-kilometre traditional Pahalgam route, 2,753 pilgrims were headed for the shorter but steeper 14-kilometre Baltal route in 151 vehicles, they said.

With the fresh departure, a total of 24,528 pilgrims have left the Jammu base camp for the Valley since Wednesday, when Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha flagged off the yatra from here.

The yatra goes on as usual, albeit in tighter security, despite the April 22 Pahalgam attack in which 26 men were gunned down.

The Bhagwati Nagar base camp has been put under a multi-tier security cover. More than 3.5 lakh people have registered online for the pilgrimage so far.

Thirty-four accommodation centres have been set up across Jammu, and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags are being issued to the pilgrims. Twelve counters have been set up for an on-the-spot registration of pilgrims.