3.65 lakh perform darshan as Amarnath yatra concludes peacefully

The 43-day long annual Amarnath yatra concluded peacefully on Thursday, with 3.65 lakh pilgrims paying obeisance at the cave shrine located in south Kashmir Himalayas.

“The annual pilgrimage has concluded with the Samapan Pooja of Chadi Mubarak. In total, 3.65 pilgrims performed darshan at the cave shrine of Amarnath. The figure is the highest in the past five years,” J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha said while addressing a presser, here.

He said overall the yatra remained peaceful and the pilgrims at both base camps of Baltal in Sonmarg and Chandanwari in Pahalgam expressed satisfaction over the arrangements through various surveys conducted by the administration.

The annual 43-day yatra commenced on June 30 from the twin base camps - traditional 48-km Nunwan-Pahalgam in south Kashmir’s Anantnag and 14-km shorter Baltal in central Kashmir’s Ganderbal.

However, the weather played a spoilsport during this year’s yatra. The LG said out of 43-days of the Yatra period, weather remained erratic for 20. “This year the capacity to accommodate pilgrims at Yatra Niwas facilities was increased from 70,000 to 125,000. RFID chips played a great role to keep track of pilgrims. A female child was lost who was tracked within a few minutes through RFID,” the LG said.

In 2019, a total of 342,000 thousand pilgrims had taken part before the yatra was curtailed on August 1 ahead of the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5 that year. In 2020 and 2021, the yatra was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Given the spike in militant attacks on civilians in Kashmir this year, the peaceful culmination of the pilgrimage is no mean task for the Jammu and Kashmir administration.

LG Sinha thanked the security forces including police, army, CRPF and other Central forces in general and particularly the locals of Pahalgam and Baltal for extending whole hearted support to the pilgrims.

“I am thankful to the people of entire Kashmir for welcoming pilgrims with open arms,” he said, adding that security forces provided fool-proof security cover to the pilgrims and ensured peaceful pilgrimage.

Asked if tourist flow decreased due to Amarnath pilgrimage, the LG said that the yatra didn’t affect tourism in Kashmir.

“If we compare figures of past three years during the pilgrimage, this year, tourist figures were much higher during the pilgrimage,” he said, adding that tourism shouldn’t be correlated with the pilgrimage.