E-Paper
Amarnath Yatra: 1,000 pilgrims on helicopters, 500 on foot to be allowed per day via Baltal track this year
The date of beginning of Amarnath Yatra this year has not been announced officially.
A thousand pilgrims will be allowed to take a helicopter ride and another 500 will be allowed on foot through the shorter Baltal route each day to undertake Amarnath Yatra this year, officials said on Tuesday. Jammu and Kashmir administration is busy making last ditch efforts to put in place all the arrangements for the curtailed Amarnath Yatra due to Covid 19 pandemic outbreak.
Officials of Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) said chief secretary BVR Subrahmanyam has decided on the number of pilgrims to be allowed each day during the curtailed pilgrimage that is likely to be held from July 21 to August 3.
On Sunday, Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, GC Murmu, peformed ‘Pratham Aarti’ of the ice stalagmite at the holy cave shrine of Amarnath in south Kashmir.
Murmu was accompanied by his principal secretary and chief executive officer of Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB) Bipul Pathak, additional CEO AK Soni, Division Commissioner Kashmir Pandurang K Pole and other senior officials.
Since then Prasar Bharati, India’s official broadcaster, has been airing live the Aarti from the holy cave shrine and it will continue till August 3.
The chief secretary of Jammu and Kashmir, BVR Subrahmanyam on Saturday had said that this year’s Amarnath Yatra in south Kashmir Himalayas would have to be undertaken in a restricted manner, so that the SOPs for Covid-19 are strictly adhered to.
The HT Guide to Coronavirus COVID-19
Pilgrims and volunteers (Sewadars), who set up community kitchens, have to carry latest Covid 19 negative reports with them.
On June 5, the top officials of Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) performed ‘Pratham Pooja’ in the state’s winter capital Jammu on the occasion of Jayestha Purnima signifying commencement of the annual pilgrimage.
Last year, the yatra was cut short following intelligence inputs of terror threats ahead of the Centre scrapping Article 370 that granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir. In 2018, the pilgrimage was held for 60 days.
Thousands of pilgrims either trek the traditional and longer 45-km-long Pahalgam route or the shorter 16-km Baltal route to the holy shrine every year.
One of the holiest pilgrimages of Hinduism, the Amarnath Yatra attracts pilgrims from India as well as across the world. There have been terror attacks on the route of the yatra in the past. The last attack took place in 2017 on a bus from Gujarat in Anantnag district that left seven pilgrims dead.
