Early Times Report
JAMMU, July 6: A fresh batch of 5,794 pilgrims, including 1,211 women, departed from the Bhagwati Nagar base camp here early Monday for the annual Amarnath Yatra, officials said. Around 60,000 pilgrims have offered prayers at the holy cave shrine since the yatra began on July 3, they said. The officials said the fifth batch included 21 children, 599 sadhus and 76 sadhvis. They left the base camp in separate convoys between 3.10 am and 3.45 am under tight security. Of them, 3,490 pilgrims, travelling in 139 vehicles, are heading to the Nuwan base camp in Pahalgam, while 2,304 pilgrims in 128 vehicles are bound for the Baltal base camp, they said. Pilgrims are undertaking the yatra simultaneously via the traditional 48-km Nunwan-Pahalgam route in Anantnag district and the shorter but steeper 14-km Baltal route in Ganderbal district.
The 57-day annual pilgrimage to the 3,880-metre high cave shrine in the south Himalayas is scheduled to end on August 28, coinciding with the Raksha Bandhan festival. |
