Over 7000 perform darshan, no yatra from Baltal for 3rd day

Avtar Bhat

JAMMU, July 18: Though the Srinagar-Baltal road remained closed for third consecutive day today due to cloudbursts and land slides at various places in Baltal area on July 16, over 7000 pilgrims performed darshan at holy cave today.
According to an official spokesman,7,255 pilgrims performed darshan in the holy cave today and with this the total number of pilgrims performing darshan in cave shrine situated in deep Himalayas in South Kashmir district of Anantnag has touched 2,39,026.
He said the number was considerably reduced due to closure of the Srinagar -Baltal road for vehicular traffic as no pilgrim could reach Baltal from Srinagar today.
The spokesman said the Baltal also remained delinked from rest of the country as the communication network was paralyzed for the entire day today and the Srinagar -Baltal road which remained cut off for third consecutive day was restored for one way traffic late to night.
The spokesman said the stranded yatris from Baltal were allowed to move towards Srinagar later. He said over 15,000 pilgrims were stranded at Baltal who had returned after performing darshan at holy cave during last three days.
He said 7666 pilgrims left for holy cave from Nunwan-Pahalgam base camp via traditional Chandanwari track. Besides the pilgrims having night haltage at Chandanwari, Sheshnag and Panchtarni also left for holy cave early this morning.
The spokesman said the weather remained overcast with clouds for entire day on both the tracks.
Sources said due to disruption in communication link the yatris were facing many hardships at Baltal. It may be recalled that Srinagar -Baltal road was damaged due to cloudburst and land slide at Gagan Geer and in between Kulan and Gund on July 16 evening. While the road at Gagan Geer was restored by the authorities yesterday but it took them complete two days in restoring the road in between Kulan and Gund.
Meanwhile, a fresh batch of 1720 pilgrims left Bhagwati Nagar Jammu Yatri Niwas under tight security arrangements in a cavalcade of 41 vehicles for holy cave this morning. They included 1171 male, 441 female, 14 children and 94 Sadhus. All these pilgrims had crossed the Jawahar Tunnel by the evening and were on their way to Pahalgam base camp.

Follow our WhatsApp channel