| Amarnath Yatra goes on smoothly, yatris stopped at base camps after darshan | | | Early Times Report
Srinagar, Aug 2 : Fresh batches of pilgrims left Baltal and Nunwan Pahalgam base camps for the holy Amarnath cave shrine, situated at 12,000 feet above sea level in south Kashmir Himlayas early this morning.
However, yatris who had night halt at base camps after darshan were not allowed to leave for Jammu this morning in view of the strike call given by separatists in the Kashmir valley today against the move by some people to open a new pilgrimage destination ' Kounser Nag' in south Kashmir.
Yatra officials said that fresh batch of yatris, including sadhus and women, left Baltal base camp early this morning for the cave shrine. Similarly pilgrims, who paid obeisance at the cave shrine yesterday and had night halt near the shrine, have also started their return journey towards Baltal base camp.
They said fresh batch of pilgrims also left Nunwan Pahalgam base camp for the cave shrine this morning. However, the pilgrims will have night halt at Chandanwari, the last motorable halting station on the traditional yatra route.They said pilgrims who had night halt at different halting stations on the track have also started their onward journey towards the cave shrine this morning.
However, the pilgrims who had night halt at Panjterni reached cave shrine this morning after covering the five km track on foot early this morning.
A spokesman of the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) said about 2500 pilgrims had paid obeisance at the cave shrine yesterday.
With this, including those who reached the cave shrine this morning from Panjterni, a total of about 3.60 lakh pilgrims have paid obeisance at the Holy Cave since the commencement of the annual yatra from June 28.
Meanwhile, as a precautionary measure, the authorities have stopped all pilgrims, who had returned after darshan, at base camps to avoid any untoward incident in view of the hartal in the valley."Normally we were allowing yatris to leave for Jammu at 0430 hrs every morning," they said adding today we donot want to take any chance.However, they said decision to allow yatris for Jammu will be taken later in the day, keeping in view the overall situation. |
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