The Amarnath Yatra has commenced on Thursday morning after three years of suspension. Amid tight security, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha flagged off the first batch of 4,890 pilgrims in 176 vehicles, from the Bhagwati Nagar base camp for Amarnath Yatra on Wednesday.
The first batch of Amarnath yatris has reached Baltal base camps amid religious chants. The 43-day pilgrimage has commenced from the two base camps, 48-km Nunwan in south Kashmir’s Anantnag and 14-km shorter Baltal in central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district.
The Amarnath Yatra has resumed after a three-year suspension as the Yatra was cancelled midway in 2019 as the Centre was planning to abrogate Article 370. Then it got cancelled for two years due to the covid-19 pandemic.
The pilgrims were escorted by security vehicles mounted with machine guns from Srinagar to the Baltal base camp. All civilians and other vehicles were being checked at many places. No vehicles were allowed to stop on the main highway leading to Baltal. Furthermore, bulletproof bunker vehicles were keeping vigil on the yatra route at sensitive spots.
Every year the annual Amarnath yatra is done via two routes through Baltal in Ganderbal and Pahalgam in Anantnag district.
For the convenience of pilgrims, many camps have been set up at the airport, the railway and bus stations to issue RFID tags on the basis of travel slips and identity cards. The pilgrims can take rest at the base camps and shelter sheds built along the route to Amarnath in Kashmir. Health teams have also been deployed along the route.
Optical fibre cable has been laid to ensure telecom connectivity for pilgrims, said officials. The Shri Amarnath Shrine Board has also made a provision of online ‘darshan’ for those who cannot undertake the pilgrimage.
(Source: Tribune India)
Ms Kalinga AI