Amid a multi-tier security cover, more than 8,600 pilgrims left the Bhagwati Nagar base camp in Jammu early Monday to join the annual Amarnath pilgrimage in the Himalayas, officials said.
More than 70,000 pilgrims have paid obeisance at the holy cave shrine located at a height of 3,880 metres since the start of the 38-day yatra, which commenced from the twin tracks of Pahalgam in the Anantnag district and Baltal in the Ganderbal district on July 3.
The sixth batch of 8,605 pilgrims — 6,486 men, 1,826 women, 42 children, and 251 sadhus and sadhvis — left the Bhagwati Nagar base camp here in 372 vehicles for the twin base camps in Kashmir amid tight security arrangements at 3.30 am and 4.25 am, the officials said.
The first pilgrim convoy, carrying 3,486 pilgrims in 166 vehicles, left for the shorter but steeper 14-km Baltal route in the Ganderbal district, followed by the second convoy of 5,119 pilgrims in 206 vehicles who are undertaking the yatra from the 48-km traditional Pahalgam route in the Anantnag district, they said.
This was the largest batch of pilgrims since Wednesday, when Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha flagged off the yatra in Jammu on July 2. With this, a total of 40,361 pilgrims have left the Jammu base camp for the valley.
There is a huge rush at the counters for on-the-spot registration, with authorities increasing the number of counters as well as the daily quota to ease the rush.
Over 3,000 devotees arrived in Jammu from various parts of the country to get themselves registered.
Amid chants of “Bum Bum Bhole” and “Har Har Mahadev”, enthusiastic pilgrims left with religious fervour for Amarnath from Jammu, which transformed into a “city of divinity”.
Undeterred by the Pahalgam terrorist attack that left 26 people dead on April 22, the pilgrims said that they have no fear as they embarked on the pilgrimage to seek blessings of Lord Shiva by paying obeisance at natural ‘ice lingum’ at the cave shrine. They said that they will pray to Shiva to end terrorism in Kashmir and the increasing number of devotees thronging the yatra will send a befitting reply to terrorists and Pakistan — that they do not fear them.
More than 3.5 lakh people have registered online for the pilgrimage so far. Thirty-four accommodation centres have been set up across Jammu, and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags are being issued to the pilgrims. Twelve counters have been set up for on-the-spot registration. Arrangements have been made to provide boarding and lodging facilities for more than 50,000 people at various lodgement centres across the Jammu region, from Lakhanpur to Banihal, they said.
A total of 106 lodgement centres have been set up for the purpose, they added.
A total of 180 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF), which is 30 more than previous years, have been deployed for the security of the annual Amarnath Yatra in Jammu division this year, a senior police officer said.