Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 8: Over 11,000 pilgrims today paid obeisance at the holy cave shrine of Amarnath in South Kashmir Himalayas, even as the yatra from Jammu remained suspended in view of apprehensions of law and order problems, according to officials.
On the 11th day, the yatra proceeded smoothly on the Pahalgam as well as the Baltal routes, an official spokesman said. He, however, said the yatra from Jammu remained suspended.
While the spokesman gave no reason for the suspension of pilgrimage, a police official said the yatra was suspended in view of apprehensions of law and order problems on the second death anniversary of Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani.
The spokesman said 11,282 yatris paid obeisance at the holy cave shrine today and till date, 94,412 yatris have had the ‘darshan’ of the ‘shivling’ at the holy cave. The official said the helicopter service also operated on both the routes normally.
Meanwhile, two Amarnath pilgrims died of natural causes taking the death toll in ongoing yatra to 14, police said.
A woman pilgrim Lakshmi Bhai, 54, resident of Hyderabad died due to cardiac arrest at Baltal base camp in Ganderbal district of South Kashmir during the last night, he added. He said the body is lying at the base camp hospital.
Another pilgrim, Ravinder Nath, 72, of Andhra Pradesh was taken ill and admitted in SKIMS Hospital Soura. He also passed away at Hospital today, official said.
A 45- year old seriously ill Yatri namely Gauri Shankar of Gujarat was immediately airlifted by the Shrine Board from the base camp Baltal to the SKIMS, Srinagar for further specialized treatment.
While reviewing the follow up of the directions issued by Governor N.N. Vohra in his 6th July meeting convened for providing immediate relief to stranded passengers at Panjtarni, it was informed by Umang Narula CEO of the Shrine Board that Micro ATM of J&K Bank has distributed more than Rs. 3.62 lakh cash since yesterday to pilgrims at Panjtarni and work of putting wire mesh at vulnerable spots between Railpathri and Brarimarg is progressing at desired pace.
A police officer on yatra duty said 2100 pilgrims left from Nunwan-Pahalgam base camp to holy cave for darshan early this morning while the yatris camping at transit camps of Chandanwari, Sheshnag and Panchtarni also left for their onwards sojourn this morning.
He said the weather was pleasant on yatra routes during the day and stranded pilgrims at Baltal also left for holy cave for darshan in the morning. The officer said 17,00 pilgrims are staying at Nunwan camp for night halt. Out of them 1200 are those pilgrims who have to leave for darshan tomorrow morning while 500 are those who returned after darshan from holy cave by this evening.
As the yatra remained suspended from Jammu today there are over 12,000 pilgrims in city of temples. Out of them about 2200 are putting up at Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas.
Sources said hundreds of yatris camping at various places on NH from Jammu to Banihal were also not allowed to leave for Kashmir Valley today in view of security reasons.
Nodal Officer Amarnath yatra Arun Manhas said that the yatra will be allowed to leave holy cave from here early tomorrow morning. The two-month long annual Amarnath yatra which started on June 28 will culminate on August 26 the day coinciding with Sawan Purnima and Raksha Bandhan festivals.
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