Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR/JAMMU, July 20: On the 22nd day of darshan , 4,723 paid obeisance at holy cave of Swami Amarnath today taking the number of total pilgrims who visited holy cave so far to 2,27,342.
This year the Amarnath yatra broke the record of 2016 as in 21 days 2,22,619 pilgrims visited the holy cave till yesterday while 2.20 lakh pilgrims had visited the holy cave last year in 48 days.
According to an official spokesman, 3000 pilgrims left for holy cave situated at an altitude of 3880 meters in deep Himalayas from the twin base camps of Nunwan Pahalgam in South Kashmir of Anantnag and Baltal, Sonamarg from Central Kashmir of Ganderbal district this morning.
Out of them 1463 pilgrims left via shortest Dumel track from Nunwan base camp while 1593 left via traditional 45 km long Chandanwari- Sheshnag track from Nunwan Base Camp.
Besides, the pilgrims who had the night stay at halting stations of Sheshnag and Panchtarni also left for their onwards sojourn this morning.
He said the majority of pilgrims who had performed the darshan at cave shrine during the last 22 days had returned to their home destinations while others are on the way.
He said the yatra is proceeding smoothly from both the tracks.
Meanwhile the 21st batch of 1,877 pilgrims today left Bhagwati Nagar Jammu Yatri Niwas for the Amarnath cave shrine amid tight security.
With today’s batch, a total of 62,160 pilgrims and sages have left Jammu for the pilgrimage in 21 batches since the yatra began from here on June 28.
Escorted by the CRPF and the police, the batch consisting of 1360 males, 492 females with 25 Sadhus and Sadhvis left in a convoy of 40 vehicles for Baltal and Pahalgam base camps this morning, officials said.
The Government has mobilised a heavy security blanket of 35,000 to 40,000 troops including the police, the Army, the BSF and the CRPF.
This year’s yatra will be eight days shorter than the last year’s and conclude on Shravan Purnima (Raksha Bandhan) on August 7.
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