Jammu, 28 July: Amid heavy rains, a fresh batch of 1,677 pilgrims left a Jammu base camp for the
Amarnath shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas in the early hours of Sunday amid
tight security arrangements, officials said.
The 31th batch of pilgrims, which also included over 1,300 men, 200 women. It also
included two children and 104 sadhus and sadhvis who left the Bhagwati Nagar
base camp at 3.35 am in a convoy of 67 vehicles escorted by the Central Reserve
Police Force (CRPF), they said.
While 1,269 pilgrims will reach Pahalgam to undertake the annual pilgrimage
through the traditional 48-km route in Anantnag district, 408 have opted for
the shorter but steeper 14-km Baltal route in Ganderbal district.
Since June 28, when Lt Governor Manoj Sinha flagged off the first batch from
Jammu, a total of 1,36,984 pilgrims have embarked from the Jammu base camp.
More than 4.51 lakh pilgrims have offered prayers at the naturally-formed ice
lingam at the cave shrine so far this year. The yatra has crossed last yearโs
figures of 4.5 lakh pilgrims in less than a month this year.
The yatra commenced on June 29 and is scheduled to conclude on August 19.
