Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, July 4: Following the death of three yatris due to landslide and shooting stones late last night and death of another lady early this mor-ning near Brar-imarg on Baltal track, the yatra on both the tracks of Baltal and Pahalgam-Chandanwari remained suspended today.
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However, during the seventh day of two month long yatra, 5,919 pilgrims had darshan of self made Ice Lingam in the holy cave of Swami Amarnath Ji situated in deep Himalayas in South Kashmir district of Anantnag at an altitude of 3880 meters.
They included the yatris who were camping at transit camp of Panchtarni and those who left by chopper from Baltal to holy cave this morning.
According to a police officer on Yatra duty, one lady identified as Laxmi Devi, 45, W/o P Rajinder of Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh died early this morning due to shooting stone at Brari marg. Her body has been shifted to Sonamarg mortuary as her husband is stranded at holy cave.
Three pilgrims were killed while four others injured in landslide and shooting stones at Baltal holy caver track late last night. This forced the authorities to suspend the yatra on both the tracks this morning.
The police officer said there were 30,000 pilgrims camping at Baltal base camp yesterday for night halt and out of them 15,000 returned to Srinagar this morning.
He said 23,783 pilgrims are camping at Baltal by this evening. They will only be allowed to leave for darshan of holy cave in early tomorrow morning provided the weather improves.
The officer said it was raining entire day in the yatra area right from Baltal and Nunwan base camps to the holy cave. The weather was cloudy during the night and rain didn’t stop.
The police officer said 5000 pilgrims were camping at Nunwan -Pahalgam base camp today while over 3000 are camping in various lodges and hotels in Pahalgam.
He said hundreds of yatris are also camping at transit camps of Chandanwari, Sheshnag and Panchtarni. The yatris staying at these transit camps were not also allowed to proceed further due to bad weather.
Meanwhile, all the three yatris killed in the landslide yesterday were identified.
A rescue team recovered the body of Delhi resident Shailendra (30) from the landslide-hit area along the Baltal route of the pilgrimage today, a police official said.
He added that the bodies of two other pilgrims — Jyoti Sharma (35) from Delhi and Ashok Mahto (51) from Bihar — were recovered last night itself.
Five others — two pilgrims and three ponywallas — were injured in the landslide, which was triggered by heavy rainfall between Railpathri and Brarimarg on the Baltal route of the annual pilgrimage, the police official said.
The Jammu and Kashmir Police had yesterday said in a tweet that five people had died in the landslide. However, the police clarified this morning that the death toll in the landslide stood at three.
The police official also informed that a 60-year-old pilgrim from Gujarat, Naniben Parma, died due to cardiac arrest at the Panjtarni base camp late last night , adding that the body was taken to the Baltal base camp for further legal proceedings.
With this, the death toll in this year’s yatra has gone up to 11.
However, braving light showers, seventh batch of 3,708 pilgrims, today left Jammu for holy cave of Swami Amarnath ji , amid tight security, a senior official said.
The pilgrims, including 622 women and 232 sadhus, left for the cave shrine in 114 vehicles from the Bhagwati Nagar base camp here at 2:30 am, he said.
However, the yatra on way to Pahalgam was stopped at Udhampur for night in view of the heavy rains in cave shrine area and suspension of yatra at Baltal and Nunwan today.
SSP Udhampur, Rayees Ahmed Bhat told Excelsior that Pahalgam bound pilgrim vehicles carrying about 2000 yatris were stopped at Udhampur for night halt due to bad weather conditions on yatra route. However the vehicles carrying 1650 pilgrims for Baltal base camp were allowed to move ahead.
These yatris will be allowed to move towards Pahalgam tomorrow morning provided the weather improves, he added.
Meanwhile five pilgrims were injured in an accident on Jammu -Srinagar, National Highway in Ramban district.
A police officer said a vehicle carrying pilgrims was hit by another vehicle in Chanderkote area. All the injured were hospitalised and their condition is stated to be out of danger.
Yesterday, 18,467 pilgrims had paid obeisance at the shrine.
With the performance of darshan by 5919 pilgrims at holy cave today, 60,752 yatris had performed darshan of the Shivlingam in the holy cave during last seven days.
According to Nodal Officer of Amarnath Yatra, Arun Manhas there are about 4500 pilgrims camping at Jammu. Out of them, 2200 are camping at Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas while others are in other lodges and community centres in the city.
He said the yatra from Jammu to holy cave will remain suspended tomorrow in view of the heavy rush at base camps of Baltal and Nunwan.
Official figures revealed that 4500 pilgrims have crossed Lakhanpur from other parts of country by this evening while equal number of pilgrims have reached Jammu through rail also.
Despite incessant rains which even posed a threat of flash floods in the Valley, the yatra to the cave shrine commenced as per scheduled on June 28 after several hours of delay and frequent disruptions owing to continuous rainfall, slippery condition of the tracks and landslides.
The 60-day yatra is scheduled to conclude on August 26 coinciding with the ‘Raksha Bandhan’ and Shravan Purnima festivals.
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