Bad weather halts Amarnath yatra

The Amarnath yatra was again halted on Sunday due to landslides and bad weather along the route to the Kashmir cave shrine. The met office has predicted more rain and thundershowers in the region.

The Amarnath yatra was again halted on Sunday due to landslides and bad weather along the route to the Kashmir cave shrine. The met office has predicted more rain and thundershowers in the region.

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"Due to landslides at a few places on the trek from Baltal base camp to the holy cave, the movement of pilgrims from the base camp towards the cave has been halted on Sunday morning.

"The decision to allow the yatris will be taken after the landslides are removed and after improvement in the weather," a senior official told IANS on phone from Baltal.

The official said pilgrims going to the cave shrine through helicopter sorties are being allowed to reach the cave shrine.

"Helicopter sorties between the Baltal base camp and the cave shrine are operating normally today.

"The maximum number of yatris who can use the helicopter service per day is around 800," the official said.

Reports from south Kashmir Pahalgam base camp also said the movement of pilgrims from the base camp towards the cave shrine had been halted because of bad weather.

"The decision would be reviewed as the weather starts improving," a senior police officer said in Pahalgam.

The weather office has forecast rain and thundershowers along both the mountain treks to the cave shrine during the next 12 hours.

So far, over 50,000 pilgrims have performed the pilgrimage which started here on June 29.

The heavy rush of unregistered yatris has adversely affected the smooth conduct of this year's pilgrimage.

"We are virtually handling three times the number we are supposed to because of the arrival of unregistered pilgrims to the Valley from outside," an official said.