Efforts under way to resume Amarnath Yatra soon: Jammu and Kashmir L-G

Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha on Sunday said efforts are underway to resume the Amarnath Yatra, appealing pilgrims to come and assuring that all facilities will be provided.

At least 16 pilgrims died after a flash flood triggered by heavy rains near the holy cave shrine of Amarnath in south Kashmir Himalayas swept away several people on Friday evening. In view of the cloudburst incident, the yatra remained suspended for the third consecutive day.

“Work on restoration of yatra route is going on in full swing and we are sure that Amarnath pilgrimage will resume very soon,” Sinha told reporters after visiting Nunwan base camp in Pahalgam area of south Kashmir’s Anantnag district.

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He said that all operations have been completed except the one where some debris was still lying and that too is being cleared. “I hope restoration work will be completed by today only. After completion of the work safety check will be done, following which yatra will be resumed,” the L-G said.

He also said that he personally met the yatris and got positive feedback from them. “We are making arrangements for yatris and will try to make better arrangements for them,” Sinha added.

At least 15,000 pilgrims have been shifted to the lower base camp after Friday’s incident, while more than 40 people are still missing, officials said. The pilgrimage has been suspended from Jammu due to inclement weather conditions and no fresh batch was allowed to proceed from there to the base camps of the 3,880-metre-high cave shrine.

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The 43-day annual Yatra began on June 30, from the twin base camps of Nunwan and Baltal camp in Ganderbal district. In the first nine-days of the yatra over one lakh pilgrims offered their prayers at the 3,880-metre-high cave shrine of Lord Shiva in the upper reaches of the south Himalayas.

This year the pilgrimage was expected to see higher than usual attendance of pilgrims as it resumed after a gap of three years. The annual yatra was canceled in 2020 as well as 2021 due to Covid-19 pandemic. In 2019 it was cut short following intelligence inputs of terror threats ahead of the Centre scrapping Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.

The yatra to the holy cave shrine will culminate, as per the tradition, on the day of Raksha Bandhan, on August 11.