Buddha Amarnath Yatra ends today

Jammu, August 7

The 11-day Buddha Amarnath pilgrimage is scheduled to conclude on August 8 with the departure of the Chari Mubarak from Shri Dashnami Akhara in Poonch. A fresh batch of 378 pilgrims left the base camp to pay obeisance at the shrine of Buddha Amarnath. There were 90 women and two children in the fresh batch of pilgrims.

The pilgrimage is progressing smoothly and thousands of devotees have so far visited the shrine since the commencement of the Yatra on July 29.

Meanwhile, the Amarnath Yatra remained suspended from the Bhagwati Nagar base camp here for the second day on Sunday owing to a sharp decline in the arrival of pilgrims, officials said. The 43-day annual pilgrimage to the 3,880-metre-high cave shrine commenced on June 30 from the twin routes—the traditional 48-km Nunwan-Pahalgam route in Anantnag and the 14-km shorter Baltal route in Ganderbal—and is scheduled to end on August 11 on the occasion of Shravan Purnima coinciding with Raksha Bandhan.

“The Amarnath Yatra remained suspended from Jammu due to the non-availability of adequate number of pilgrims.... We might send one more batch before the culmination of the Yatra, depending on the availability of pilgrims,” an official said.

The Bhagwati Nagar base camp has been wearing a deserted look for the last few days, prompting the community kitchen operators to wind up their services.

On August 2, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha had appealed to the pilgrims to wrap up their visit to the Amarnath cave shrine before August 5 in view of a forecast of inclement weather and more rains after that. Nearly three lakh pilgrims have visited the cave shrine, housing the naturally formed ice-shivling, this year.

The 11-day Buddha Amarnath pilgrimage in Poonch has been going on with great fervour and enthusiasm. — PTI

378 pilgrims leave for poonch shrine

A fresh batch of 378 pilgrims left the Jammu base camp to pay obeisance at the shrine of Buddha Amarnath. There were 90 women and two children among the fresh batch.

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