According to officials, the tenth group of more than 7,800 Amarnath Yatra pilgrims left the Jammu base camp early on Wednesday for the twin base camps in Kashmir while under heavy security. After being suspended for three days due to the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway being closed for repairs in the Ramban section, the yatra was resumed on Tuesday afternoon from the Jammu base camp. Since July 1, 1,37,353 pilgrims have come to the Amarnath shrine, according to the authorities. From the twin tracks of Pahalgam in Anantnag district and Baltal in Ganderbal district, the 62-day annual pilgrimage to the 3,888-meter-high cave shrine in the south Kashmir Himalayas began on July 1. On August 31, the yatra is supposed to come to an end. Around 3.15 am, a convoy of 339 vehicles carrying 7,805 pilgrims departed from the Bhagwati Nagar base camp for the Valley, according to the officials. They reported that 3,128 pilgrims left for the Baltal base camp in a convoy of 132 vehicles, while 4,677 pilgrims left for Pahalgam in a convoy of 207 vehicles. With this, 56,303 pilgrims have now traveled from the Jammu base camp to the Valley since the yatra’s first group started on June 30. Sunita Devi of Assam said, “We are happy that Lord Shiva heard our prayers and helped us travel to his abode. She was one of 23 people who had been stranded in Jammu for the previous seven days.
Expressing happiness and appreciation that the administration reconstructed within hours the road damaged due to floods triggered by heavy, she said “they have fulfilled my wish of visiting Barfani Baba”.
The incessant rains on Saturday and Sunday caused unprecedented damage to the highway, especially a stretch in Ramban district, forcing its closure.