Majority prefer Baltal track as compared to Chandanwari
*Many reach base camps directly
skipping Bhagwati Nagar
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, July 3: On Day One of annual Shri Amarnath Ji pilgrimage, 12,348 devotees performed darshan of holy Ice Lingam of Lord Shiva in natural cave shrine located at South Kashmir Himalayas while second batch of 5200 yatris left from Bhagwati Nagar base camp in the City here early this morning and safely reached Nunwan (Pahalgam) and Baltal base camps in the Valley tonight along with hundreds of others who proceeded directly instead of being part of the official convoy.
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Officials told the Excelsior that 12,348 pilgrims performed darshan of Lord Shiva’s Ice Lingam in the cave shrine on first day of 38-day long pilgrimage. All of them had taken shorter but tough 14 kilometres Baltal route in Ganderbal district to reach the shrine and most of them returned to the base camp by tonight.
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Among 12,348 devotees of Lord Shiva who performed darshan today, were 9181 male, 2223 females, 99 children, 122 Sadhus, 7 Sadhvis, eight transgenders and 708 security personnel, the officials told the Excelsior.
Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises Shobha Karandlaje was among the pilgrims who paid obeisance to Lord Shiva after undertaking journey from Baltal track while former BJP UT chief Ravinder Raina was on way to the shrine from traditional Pahalgam track.
From Baltal, 11,272 devotees left for Shri Amarnath Ji cave early today while only 3090 pilgrims proceeded to the shrine from traditional Pahalgam route. Yatris prefer Baltal route, which is only 14 kilometres though tough, as against 34 kilometres track from traditional Chandanwari on Pahalgam route. The yatris proceeding to the shrine from Baltal can have darshan and return to the base camp the same day.
The yatra proceeded smoothly during the day from both the tracks with weather behaving.
Officials said most of the pilgrims who undertook journey from Baltal track returned to the base camp after performing darshan at the cave shrine. However, the yatris who proceeded to the cave from Nunwan for traditional Chandanwari track will reach the shrine tomorrow.
Meanwhile, second batch of over 5,200 pilgrims left the base camp of Bhagwati Nagar in Jammu for Baltal and Nunwan camps early this morning in the official convoy. A large number of yatris proceeded to Baltal and Nunwan directly in their vehicles.
Officials said the second batch safely reached Nunwan and Baltal camps tonight and will start their pilgrimage early tomorrow morning.
The pilgrims left the Bhagwati Nagar base camp in a cavalcade of 168 vehicles escorted by police and paramilitary forces.
The second batch of pilgrims includes 4,074 men, 786 women, and 19 children.
A group of pilgrims on way to the shrine said they were not deterred by the April 22 Pahalgam attack that left 26 people dead.
“We do not fear terrorists or Pakistan, which has engineered attacks on innocent and unarmed tourists. It is a cowardly act. They cannot stop us from paying obeisance to Baba Barfani by triggering fear through terror incidents such as Pahalgam,” Harish Kumar, a resident of Raipur and part of a 37-member group of devotees, said.
Like him, Mukhtar Singh, who left for Amarnath shrine along with a group of 20 members from Kanpur, said they do not have the slightest fear.
“The increasing number of pilgrims thronging the yatra will send a befitting reply to terrorists and Pakistan that we do not fear them,” he said.
A multi-tier security setup has been activated in and around the Bhagwati Nagar base camp for the annual pilgrimage.
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 the on-the-spot registration of pilgrims who intend to undertake the yatra.
So far, more than 3.5 lakh people have registered themselves online for the pilgrimage
There has been huge rush of pilgrims at on spot yatra registration counters with large number of devotees thronging the City unregistered. They have to wait for long time to get registration due to rush.
Chants of ‘Bum Bum Bhole’ and ‘Har Har Mahadev’ heralded the march of the pilgrims’, whose faces bore marks of happiness despite the arduous trek ahead, not to speak of the weather’s vagaries as batch of devotees started leaving for the cave shrine from Baltal and Nunwan on Day One of 38-day-long annual yatra of Shri Amarnath Ji early this morning.
“Baba has blessed us and there is tremendous excitement and enthusiasm around,” a pilgrim from Gujarat said.
He urged the people to come for the yatra without any fear and asserted there was no need to be scared with all the security around.
“There are very good arrangements. Security forces are deployed in large numbers. There is stringent security. Other arrangements also are up to the mark,” another pilgrim said.
The 38-day pilgrimage will conclude on August 9 coinciding with Shravan Purnima and Raksha Bandhan.
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