Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, June 26: The first batch of Amarnath Yatra will leave the base camp here at Bhagwati Nagar for holy cave shrine situated at an altitude of 14000 feet in deep Himalayas in South Kashmir district of Anantnag, early morning tomorrow under tight security measures to have darshan on June 28.
The yatris from different parts of the country have started reaching the Bhagwati Nagar Base camp and by the evening there were about 500 pilgrims inside the Yatri Niwas while several others were on their way.
The Yatra will be flagged of by Tourism Minister, G A Mir who will be accompanied by Divisional Commissioner Jammu, Pardeep Gupta and other senior civil and police officers.
In view of the militants’ threats and recent attack on Army convoy at Hyderpora Bye Pass, Srinagar, the Government has made tight security arrangements for the pilgrims. The three- tier security system has been kept in place for pilgrims right from Lakhanpur to holy cave, official sources said.
Sources said, besides the CRPF, J&K Police, its Security Wing and Army has been deployed for the security of pilgrims. The Road Opening Party (ROP) of Army will man the National Highway right from Jammu to holy cave, sources added.
Sources said six companies of CRPF along with J&K Police jawans and security men are manning the Bhagwati Nagar Base camp and its outer areas. The Base Camp has been sanitized over a week back after CRPF and JK Police took its control with dog squads and bomb disposal squads in their preemptive move to keep the saboteurs at bay, sources added.
To maintain a complete vigil on Yatri Niwas, the CRPF has installed bunkers inside and outer areas of the Base Camp also.
Sources said to avert any problem to pilgrims this time after proper security check up at Lakhanpur every yatri vehicle will be tagged a sticker by Traffic Police to avoid the frequent security checks en-route.
The Divisional Commissioner Jammu, Pardeep Gupta today took stock of the arrangements en-route the yatra up to Jawahar tunnel including langer facilities for the pilgrims.
He said all arrangements are in place and fool proof security arrangements have been made for the pilgrims during their pilgrimage up to holy cave.
He said to tackle the heavy rush or bad weather conditions the authorities have also made arrangements for yatris at district headquarters right from Lakhanpur to Banihal.
Meanwhile hundreds of yatris from States of Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttarakhand, MP, Utter Pradesh etc have started reaching here to leave for first darshan tomorrow.
According to an official spokesman over 3000 pilgrims have made their entry in base camp by 9 pm.
The first batch of yatris who reached from outside the State was welcomed today at Lakhanpur, the gateway of J&K by the police and civil administration.
The Yatra was received at Lakhanpur by DIG Jammu- Kathua range Shakeel Ahmed Beig along with Deputy Commissioner Kathua, Jatinder Kumar Singh and other senior civil and police officers.
Mr Beig informed Excelsior later that all security arrangements have been made for the smooth and hassle free yatra to holy cave.
Earlier Mr Beig and DC Kathua inaugurated the newly set up Yatri assistance and registration centre at Lakhanpur.
Later Mr Beig also received the pilgrims at Kunjwani Jammu along with other senior civil and Police officers.
However the rush is considerably poor as compared to last year in view of early Monsoon this year and the recent Uttarakhand disaster.
But unfazed by the Uttarakhand disaster a mother daughter duo from Haridwar who were stopped on their way to Chhardham yatra at Haridwar after the disaster wrecked havoc in Kedar Ghati have now decided to go for Amarnath Yatra.
Kavita and her daughter Sonia reached here today to leave for holy yatra tomorrow morning along with first batch of pilgrims.
They said that people should not suspend their yatra plans and rather pray for safe and sound pilgrimage.
Despite seeing such a destruction created by cloud burst and flash floods in Kedar Ghati they are not afraid to take another arduous trek to Himalayan range in J&K saying “we have no fear as any thing can happen anywhere”.
Meanwhile Chief Executive Officer, Shri Amarnath Shrine Board, Navin K Choudhary said that all arrangements for the pilgrims will be in place in Kashmir Valley by tomorrow. He, while reiterating that no unregistered yatri will be allowed for darshan, has appealed the intending pilgrims to obtain the registration before leaving for darshan.
He said the Shrine Board had opened 422 registration counters this year across the country against the 174 last year and this year the registration was started three months in advance of the yatra to ensure that every intending pilgrim could timely go through the registration process.
He said the yatris who reach Jammu without obtaining valid registration should proceed to Vaishnavi Dham and Saraswati Dham at Railhead and Jammu Haat in the city respectively after obtaining the compulsory health certificate from a notified doctor / medical institution and then seek the registration where the current registration centres for pilgrims have been opened. Those yatris who reach Srinagar without registration should go to the Tourist Reception Centre (TRC) Srinagar for their registration after obtaining the health certificate, he added.
Mr Choudhary said that as per the SHPC recommendation which has been endorsed by the Supreme Court decision, the district administration is bound to stop all those yatris who attempt to undertake the yatra without valid registration.
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