Amarnath Yatra crosses 2-lakh mark in 8 days
33 foreigners among 8,796 pilgrims leave for Amarnath from Jammu
Srinagar/Jammu: The annual Amarnath Yatra crossed the two-lakh mark on Friday, Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha said.
He said that with the pilgrimage running smoothly on both routes, the spiritual celebration is set to welcome a steady arrival of devotees in the coming weeks.
“In a remarkable testament to faith, the holy Shri Amarnath Ji Yatra has crossed the 2 lakh pilgrim mark in just 8 days,” Sinha said in a post on X. “Har Har Mahadev!” he added.
The annual yatra began from the twin routes of Baltal and Pahalgam on July 3 and will culminate on August 28.
Meanwhile, a ninth batch of 8,796 pilgrims, including 33 foreigners, left the Bhagwati Nagar base camp here for the annual Amarnath Yatra in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district amid multi-tier security, officials said.
More than 1.73 lakh pilgrims have had ‘darshan’ of the naturally formed ice ‘lingam’ of Lord Shiva at the 3,880-metre high cave shrine since the Yatra commenced on July 2, they said.
On Friday, 8796 pilgrims left the base camp here in 354 vehicles, including 6,046 men, 2,042 women, 228 sadhus, 56 sadhvis, 10 children, one transperson, and 33 foreigners.
According to the officials, the convoy departed in two separate groups. The Baltal axis convoy carrying 3,450 pilgrims left at 3:35 am, while the Pahalgam axis convoy with 5,346 pilgrims departed at 4 am amid chants of ‘Bam Bam Bhole’, ‘Har Har Mahadev’ and ‘Jai Barfani Baba Ki’.
With Friday’s departures, a total of 61,612 pilgrims have left the Jammu base camp for Kashmir since the Yatra commenced on July 2.
The 57-day Amarnath Yatra will conclude on August 28.
