On Tuesday morning, a new group of pilgrims set out from Srinagar Base Camp for the twin routes of Baltal and Pahalgam on their way to the Amarnath cave shrine.
The eager pilgrims set out from Srinagar’s Pantha Chowk Yatra Base Camp in Jammu and Kashmir. They chanted ‘Bam Bam Bhole’ before departing for the Yatra.
While being guided by police and security personnel, the District administration is providing all facilities at the Base camp. According to Durgesh Shukla, a pilgrim from Uttar Pradesh’s Sultanpur area, the administration has supplied them with all necessary facilities.
“I had left for Valley on July 7. The next day, I reached Jammu. Thereafter, I stayed at Ramban. We stayed at Hanuman Mandir for next two days after a road had caved in on a stretch in the Ramban District along the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway. Anyhow, I reached here in Srinagar after covering a distance through rail tracks on foot,” he explained.
“The army Jawans are providing every kind of support to the pilgrims,” he added. While 500 pilgrims from Madhya Pradesh were detoured at Lakhanpur in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua area due to inclement weather.
They said that the district administration refused to allow them to travel to the Jammu base camp. Officials stated they were housed in lodgment centers set up within the government Degree College Kathua.
Meanwhile, the Ramban District administration has organized buses for stranded pilgrims following the suspension of the Srinagar Jammu National Highway due to heavy rains in the Union Territory during the last several days.