Amarnath Yatra: More than 3,500 pilgrims depart from the base camp in Jammu

Jammu, July 22: In the early hours of Tuesday, a new group of over 3,500 pilgrims braved intense rain to travel to the Amarnath cave shrine in the south Kashmir Himalayas under strict security, according to officials.

Since the pilgrimage started on July 3, more than 3 lakh pilgrims have come to see the 3,880-meter-tall shrine of Lord Shiva, which contains a naturally formed ice lingam.

The 20th group of 3,536 pilgrims, including 2,601 men, 822 women, 11 children, and 102 sadhus and sadhvis, departed the Bhagwati Nagar base camp here in 132 cars between 3:33 and 4:09 in the morning, escorted by the Central Reserve Police Force and police officers, according to the officials.

In Ganderbal district, the first pilgrim convoy, with 1,250 pilgrims in 48 vehicles, set off for the 14-kilometer, steeper Baltal road. According to them, the second convoy of 2,286 pilgrims in 84 cars started the yatra in the Anantnag area by traveling the customary 48-kilometer Pahalgam route.

Since Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha set off the first group of pilgrims on July 2, 1,27,541 pilgrims have left the Jammu base camp for the valley.

In recent days, there has been a decrease in the number of pilgrims embarking on the yatra.

On July 18, 7,908 pilgrims departed in the 16th batch, and on July 19, 6,365 pilgrims departed in the 17th batch.

3,791 pilgrims and 4,388 pilgrims from the 18th batch departed on July 20. departed on July 21 in the 19th batch. The smallest batch to date was on Tuesday.

Officials claim that because of the decline in pilgrim foot traffic, on-the-spot registration for the pilgrimage has been closed. The Bhagwati Nagar base camp will now be the location for the registration process.

To date, almost 4 lakh individuals have registered for the journey online. More than 5.10 lakh pilgrims visited the cave shrine last year.

On August 9, the 38-day pilgrimage will come to an end.