6137 perform darshan at holy cave
Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, Aug 1: Though the annual Shri Amarnath Ji Yatra was suspended till August 3 in the interest of safety of pilgrims as “urgent repair and maintenance works” being undertaken on the twin routes of the pilgrimage following heavy rains, 6137 pilgrims today paid obeisance of naturally formed Ice Shivlingam at Himalayan cave at the height of 3880 metres in South Kashmir district of Anantnag, the officials said.
They said in last 30 days of pilgrimage, 4,07,814 yatris from different parts of country and abroad performed darshan at holy cave. Among the 6137 pilgrims who paid obeisance at cave shrine today included 4562 males, 1048 females, 50 children, 38 Sadhus, two Sadhvis, four transgenders and 427 security personnel.
All these pilgrims after paying obeisance started their return journey towards Panchtarni and Domail, officials said, adding majority of pilgrims who visited holy cave during last one month have returned to their home States while others are on the way.
Officials said while the pilgrimage remained suspended from the Pahalgam route and no fresh batch of pilgrims was allowed to proceed to the cave shrine on Friday, the yatra was allowed from the Baltal route,.
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However, owing to heavy rains, the yatra was later suspended from the Baltal route as well, they said.
The movement of the pilgrims remained suspended from the Baghwati Nagar base camp here for the second consecutive day today.
“Due to the recent heavy rains, repair and maintenance works are required to be undertaken on the Baltal Axis of Shri Amarnath Ji Yatra route. In the interest of safety of the yatris, no Yatra will be allowed on August 3 from the Baltal route also,” Kashmir Divisional Commissioner Vijay Kumar Bidhuri said.
He added that further updates will be issued in the due course of time.
Bhiduri said there have been recent heavy rains in yatra area on both Pahalgam and Baltal axis, and so, maintenance works of urgent nature are required to be carried out on the Baltal axis following this heavy rainfall.
Torrential rains in Kashmir had rendered the roads unsafe, following which the pilgrimage was suspended on both the Baltal and Pahalgam routes on Wednesday.
The requisite repair and maintenance works are already being carried out on Pahalgam route of the Yatra, the Divisional Commissioner added.
On July 17, the yatra was suspended due to heavy rains at the twin base camps in Kashmir.
A total of 1,44,124 pilgrims have departed from the Jammu base camp for the Valley since July 2, when Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha flagged off the first batch.
Last year, over 5.10 lakh pilgrims paid obeisance at the cave shrine, which houses a naturally formed ice lingam.
The annual yatra will culminate on Shravan Purnima coinciding with Raksha Bandhan festival when holy mace (Chhari Mubarak) one depicting Lord Shiva and another Goddess Parvati will reach cave shrine from its abode Dashnami Akhara Srinagar where it has been kept for the darshan of devotees after Chhari Sthapana on July 27.
The holy mace led by its sole custodian, Mahant Deependra Giri Ji will leave Dashnami Akhara on last leg of pilgrimage on August 4 and enroute paying obeisance at various temples it will have two night halts at Pahalgam before leaving for onwards sojourn.
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