Amarnath pilgrimage progressing smoothly

The weather is pleasant and the 40-day-long yatra from June 29 is progressing smoothly, a yatra official told UNI.

He said a fresh batch of pilgrims, including women and sadhus, left Bagwti Nagar base camp for the Baltal and Nunwan Pahalgam base camps early this morning under unprecedented security arrangements.

Yesterday 4,655 yatris paid obeisance at the Holy Cave. With this, a total of over 2,32 lakh pilgrims had the darshan at the holy cave till this morning. 

Meanwhile, pilgrims, who had night halt at Panjtarni, are paying obeisance since early this morning after covering two km distance on foot, he said.

He said a fresh batch of yatris left Baltal to reach the cave shrine. The pilgrims are expected to reach the cave shrine, situated at 14,000 feet in the afternoon after covering 14 km hilly terrain on foot. 

Majority of the pilgrims will try to return to base camp today itself after paying obeisance while others will prefer to have night stay in the camp near the cave shrine. Meanwhile, majority pilgrims who had preferred to reach the cave shrine from traditional track are also returning via Baltal track.

Similarly, fresh batch of pilgrims, who had a night halt at Nunwan Pahalgam base camp, also left for Chandanwari, the last motorable halting station on the traditional track. Meanwhile, pilgrims who had night halt at different halting stations on the traditional route have also started their foot journey towards the cave shrine this morning.