Over 19,000 perform darshan in holy cave
Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, July 14: With the death of eight more pilgrims on way to the Amarnath cave, the death toll during the ongoing pilgrimage in last 20 days has gone to 82 while number of the total pilgrims performing darshan in cave shrine has reached 4,63,127.
According to officials eight more pilgrims died during the intervening night of July 13 and 14 on way to holy cave taking the toll to 82.
Seven pilgrims died on two tracks while one died near Patnitop in Ramban district of Jammu.
The officials said Amlos Chakravoty 62 of West Bengal died at Baltal of cardiac arrest, while Shiromati Jasodha wife of Amba Lal of Baroda, Gujarat died at Baltal and Ramadit Singh son of Nasib Singh of UP died at Pahalgam due to cardiac arrest.
They said Vikram Nath, son of Kanya Nath of Rajasthan also died near holy cave after suffering a massive heart attack while 75 year old Shiv Kumar died at base camp Baltal due to cardiac arrest.
They said Magni Lal , 75 son of Koshal Lal of Rajasthan died in between Zojibal and Pisso Top due to heart attack while an unidentified Sadhu died near Pahalgam.
A pilgrim of Shri Amarnath yatra died of cardiac arrest in Ramban district, officials said.
They said the pilgrim identified as Bikku Khakha, resident of Punga, Maharashtra was found dead this morning at hotel room in Patnitop area of Ramban.
They said the deceased along with his friends were on way to Shri Amarnath cave shrine and halted at Patnitop for a night stay.
However the officials said that the yatra was progressing smoothly and 19,651 pilgrims performed darshan in the holy cave situated at an altitude of 3, 888 metres in South Kashmir district of Anantnag today. With this total number of pilgrims visiting the holy cave so far has reached 4.63 lakh, they added.
It may be recalled that 4.43 lakh pilgrims had visited the holy cave till late last night.
They said 8,960 pilgrims left for holy cave from Nunwan -Phalgam base camp via traditional Chandanwari track while 6,664 pilgrims left via shortest Baltal track early this morning. The pilgrims staying at Chandanwari, Sheshnag and Baltal tracks also started their onwards sojourn early this morning, they added.
The pilgrims after performing darshan in the cave shrine started their return journey towards the base camps, they added.
The weather remained cloudy and it drizzled for some time during the day on both the tracks, officials said. However the yatra proceeded smoothly.
The 39 day long yatra is scheduled to conclude on Sawan Purnima falling on August 2.
Meanwhile, at least nine persons including three policemen were today injured in a clash that broke out between poneywallas and security forces near Baltal base camp in Ganderbal district.
The poneywallas allegedly turned violent and resorted to stone pelting on policemen at Dumail area when the cops tried to stop them from taking a fresh batch of pilgrims to the 3,880 metre high holy cave shrine around 2 PM, officials said.
Police responded with baton charge and in the ensuing clash six poneywallas and three cops were injured.
Policemen guarding the base camp did not allow pilgrims to proceed towards the cave shrine after mid-day as a precautionary measure to ensure their safety, the officials said.
Confirming the clash, a police spokesman said senior officers have rushed to the spot and the situation was brought under control.
“There was a brief clash after some miscreants among the poneywallas resorted to stone pelting,” the spokesman said adding “the situation is completely normal now”.
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