Jammu: Amid tight security, the 17th batch of over 5,800 Amarnath yatris left Jammu city on Saturday morning for the twin base camps of Pahalgam and Baltal in Kashmir, officials said.
The 43-day-long yatra to the 3,880-metre-high cave shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas commenced on June 30 from the twin tracks — the traditional 48-km Nunwan-Pahalgam route in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district and 14-km shorter Baltal in central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district.
A total of 5,838 yatris left Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas here in a convoy of 223 vehicles amid heavy CRPF security, the officials said. They said that 2,547 yatris heading for Baltal were the first to leave the Bhagwati Nagar camp in 97 vehicles around 3.20 am followed by the second convoy of 126 vehicles carrying 3,291 pilgrims for Pahalgam at 4.20 am.
With this, a total of 99,825 yatris have left the Bhagwati Nagar base camp for the Valley since June 29, the day the first batch of pilgrims was flagged off by Lt Governor Manoj Sinha. So far, over 1.65 lakh yatris have offered prayers at the cave shrine, the officials said.The yatra is scheduled to end on August 11 on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan.
