First batch of pilgrims to leave for Amarnath today

Amit Khajuria & 

M Aamir Khan

Tribune News Service

Jammu/Chandanwari, June 30

The first batch of nearly 5,000 pilgrims will leave Jammu for the Amarnath shrine tomorrow. The annual pilgrimage will start from the Yatri Niwas base camp at Bagwati Nagar in Jammu on Wednesday and from traditional Baltal and Chandanwari routes on Thursday.

It is yet to be decided who will flag off the yatra as most of the ministers are in Sirinagar today.

Jammu Tourism Director RK Verma said: “Everything has been put in place for the peaceful and comfortable stay of pilgrims at Yatri Niwas and other points. The first batch will leave at 4:30am tomorrow.”

The authorities have also started the current registration counter at five points in Jammu city — Vaishnavi Dham, Sarswati Dham, Ram Mandir, Geeta Bhawan and Jammu Haat. A total of 500 pilgrims and sadhus were registered today for the first batch.

The Jammu and Kashmir Police along with the Armed Wing, Security Wing, CRPF and other agencies have been deployed in Jammu and en route to the shrine. A police official said: “All centres where pilgrims are staying are under strict vigil.” The police have also installed help booths for the pilgrims for the safe and smooth conduct of the yatra.

On way to the shrine, free langars (community kitchens) have been set up and ironsmiths could be seen fixing horseshoes to ponies that would be used to ferry pilgrims.

Even as the pilgrims are yet to arrive at Chandanwari, around 17 km from the Nunwan base camp, South Kashmir’s tourist resort Pahalgam is already in a festive mood.

Sadhu Narayan Das, 76, said he started his journey on a bicycle from Madhya Pradesh on April 5. “This is my seventh visit. Every time, I pedal to the base camp,” he said.

“Majority of the sadhus take the Chandanwari route to the shrine as it is considered that Lord Shiva took the same route. Every spot on this route has a religious significance,” Das said.

At the Nunwan camp, around 90 km from Srinagar, all arrangements are in place for the pilgrims who will start arriving from tomorrow.

“The pilgrims will start arriving from tomorrow and a maximum of 7,500 of them can leave each day,” a camp official said.

The 59-day yatra will conclude on August 29 on Shravan Purnima 

(Raksha Bandhan).