Amarnath Yatra likely to run for 60 days this year

The annual pilgrimage to the holy cave shrine of Amarnathji yatra in south Kashmir Himalayas is scheduled to begin in the last week of June this year and the pilgrimage may last for around 60 days.

While the exact date of commencement of the yatra is yet to be announced, the pilgrimage is scheduled to culminate on August 30 coinciding with Raksha Bandhan and Shravan Purnima.

Officials said Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB), which manages the affairs of the pilgrimage, will shortly come out with a detailed schedule of annual pilgrimage including total duration, date of start and conclusion besides registration and other related issues.

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J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, who is the ex-officio chairman of the SASB, while chairing the 44th meeting of the Board at Raj Bhawan, in Jammu on Friday discussed the ongoing works and future projects for smooth and hassle-free pilgrimage, an official spokesperson said.

He said the action taken report on the decisions taken in the previous board meetings were presented before the L-G during the meeting.

In 2022, the pilgrimage lasted 43 days from June 30 to August 11 with 3.65 lakh yatris paying obeisance at the 3,880-metre-high holy cave shrine.

The yatra couldn’t be held in 2020 and 2021 due to Covid-19 pandemic. In 2019, the pilgrimage was curtailed for about 15 days ahead of August 5 decision of the Centre to abrogate special status of the erstwhile State and bifurcate it into two union territories (UTs).

Every year, lakhs of pilgrims either take the traditional and longer 45 km-long Pahalgam route or the shorter 14 km-long Baltal route to Amarnath, one of Hinduism’s holiest shrines.

It may be recalled that since the SASB took control of the yatra in 2001 the number of pilgrims who visited the holy cave were 1.91 lakh during that year, followed by 1.10 lakh in 2002, 1.70 lakh in 2003, four lakh in 2004, 3.88 lakh in 2005, 3.47 lakh in 2006, 2.96 lakh in 2007, 5.33 lakh in 2008, 3.81 lakh in 2009, 4.55 lakh in 2010, 6.21 in 2011, 6.35 in 2012 and 3.54 in 2013, 3.72 lakh in 2014, 3.52 lakh in 2015, 2.21 lakh in 2016, 2.60 lakh in 2017 and 2.85 lakh in 2018.