Amarnath Yatra: Nearly 3 lakh pilgrims visit cave shrine in 15 days

Srinagar, Jul 13: In the first fifteen days of the Amarnath Yatra, nearly 3 lakh pilgrims have visited the holy cave shrine in south Kashmir’s Anantnag, officials said.
An official said that a total of 294,983 pilgrims from across the nation and globally have visited the holy cave since the start of the 52-day yatra on June 29. Today alone, 14,255 pilgrims completed the yatra, he said.
The 16th batch of 4,669 pilgrims left Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas early Saturday morning, heading towards the twin base camps of Nunwan-Pahalgam and Baltal-Sonamarg. The pilgrims departed the base camp in a convoy of 183 vehicles early this morning. The batch included 3,418 men, 1,130 women, 23 children, 96 sadhus, and two sadhvis.
Of these, 1,630 pilgrims left for the Baltal base camp at 3:05 am and 3,039 for the Pahalgam base camp at 4:00 am, from where they will proceed further to the holy cave, the official said, adding that all these pilgrims reached their respective base camps by this evening and will leave for darshan early Sunday morning.
The 52-day yatra will culminate on Shravan Purnima, which falls on August 19, coinciding with the Hindu festival of Raksha Bandhan. (KNO)