First batch of yatris proceed to Pahalgam

However, the convoy, which was initially scheduled to leave for Pahalgam at 6 am, left at around 7.30 am from the Parade Ground here.

The delay was attributed to landslides on the National highway at Samrouli last night by a senior Tourism Department official. He said that the pilgrims vehicles were allowed to proceed to Pahalgam, the base camp for pilgrimage to Amarnath shrine from here till 9.30 am.

Divisional commissioner, Jammu region, B S Jaswal, said that the convoy crossed Kud around 11.45 am and Chanderkote in the afternoon.

Sources said that the convoy was expected to reach Pahalgam by late evening.From Pahalgam, the pilgrims will be allowed to proceed to Amarnath shrine tomorrow and they will have `darshan’ of the ice-lingam on July 20, they added.

The J&K government has decided to allow pilgrims to proceed to Amarnath in a batch of 2,600 daily. As such, it had decided to allow only 75,000 people to perform the pilgrimage from July 16 to August 20.

To monitor the movement of pilgrims on the hilly terrain en route to the shrine, the government had made it mandatory for pilgrims in the age group of 16 years to 65 years to get them registered with its tourism department.

Besides this, the pilgrims were also asked to furnish health certificates for the purpose of registration.

A senior official in the State administration said that the number of pilgrims were restricted to a manageable limit in view of the Nitish Sengupta recommendations, the one-man inquiry commission constituted after the death of over 300 pilgrims due to hostile weather at Amarnath last year.

However, sources pointed out that the government’s pre-condition has resulted in a poor response for the yatra. To substantiate it, they said that while over one lakh people had visited the shrine in about a week’ s time last year, only about 50,000 pilgrims had got themselves registered with the State government this year.

Significantly, this had been despite the fact that the government had decided to allow 75,000 pilgrims to perform the yatra in south Kashmir, Himalayas this year. It was in view of the poor response to the yatra that only 1,520 people left for Pahalgam from here in the first batch, sources added.

Meanwhile, the J&K government has decided to allow all the 81 private parties set up langars en route to the shrine.

Sources, however, said that Chhari Mubarak, the holy mace of lord Shiva and goddess Parvati, will proceed from Amreshwar temple here to Dashnami Akhara at Srinagar tomorrow morning for onward journey to the holy shrine.

Meanwhile, the government has set up two yatra counters in Jammu city to provide pilgrims the latest information about the pilgrimage. While one such counter has been set up at the tourist reception centre here, the other has been set up at the railway station, an official spokesman said.