Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 29: Another pilgrim died today at Sheshnag on traditional Chandanwari track taking total death toll to 36 even as 3301 pilgrims today performed darshan of ‘Baba Barfani’ at holy cave shrine of Shri Amarnath ji taking total yatra during 59 days long annual pilgrimage to 3,07,295. The yatra had begun on July 2 and is scheduled to conclude on August 29 coinciding with Shravan Purnima and Raksha Bandhan.
Official sources said number of the pilgrims visiting holy cave shrine of Lord Amarnath ji in South Kashmir Himalayas has suddenly declined reportedly due to series of cloudbursts, terror strike at Dinanagar and some parts of Kashmir and other untoward incidents like raising of IS flags during the past one week. Only 3301 pilgrims today performed darshan of holy Ice Lingam of Lord Shiva, taking total number of yatra to 3.07 lakh.
The yatra was yet to complete one month as it had started on July 1 from Jammu and July 2 from base camps of Baltal and Pahalgam tracks. The 59 days yatra is scheduled to conclude on August 29. Last year when the yatra was confined to 44 days, 3.73 lakh pilgrims had performed darshan of the Ice Lingam.
A 47 years old pilgrim Kailash Prajapati, a resident of Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, died today at Sheshnag on way to Amarnath ji shrine from traditional track of Chandanwari. He suffered cardiac arrest and breathed his last. His body has been brought to the base camp and would be taken to Bhopal.
With this, total number of deaths during this year’s pilgrimage has reached 36.
Meanwhile, fresh batch of 449 pilgrims today left Yatri Niwas, Jammu for Nunwan in Pahalgam and Baltal early this morning amid chanting of religious slogans like ‘Bum Bum Bhole’.
They included 324 males, 119 females and six children. There were no Sadhus in today’s batch.
Sources said all the Sadhus, who have reached Jammu so far, have been sent to forward base camps of Baltal and Nunwan for the pilgrimage.
A total of 16 vehicles left Jammu for the base camps of Nunwan and Baltal.
Sources said Jammu-Srinagar National Highway and roads leading to Baltal and Nunwan were through for traffic. Weather was also fine on both traditional Chandanwari and shorter Baltal tracks and yatra was progressing smoothly though number of the pilgrims has sharply declined on both the tracks. There was slight drizzle on both the tracks today but pilgrims continued their journey uninterruptedly.
Follow our WhatsApp channel