Umaisar Gul Ganaie
Srinagar, Jul 23: On the 20th day of the ongoing annual Amarnath Yatra around 11,000 pilgrims paid obeisance at the holy cave shrine nestled in Himalayas, officials said.
The cumulative figure of devotees, who have undertaken the pilgrimage since its commencement on July 3, has reached 3.42 lakh, they said.
Officials said that a total of 10,828 pilgrims performed darshan on Wednesday. Among them were 8500 men, 1802 women, 89 children, 56 sadhus, 2 sadhvis, 3 transgender persons and 415 security personnel.
While the footfall at the shrine remained good, the number of pilgrims departing from Jammu—the starting point for most yatris—has shown a consistent downward trend over the past few days.
From 7,908 pilgrims on July 18, the number dropped to 6,365 on July 19, 4,388 on July 20, 3,791 on July 21, 3536 on July 22, 2,837 on July 23— the lowest daily departure figure recorded so far during this year’s yatra.
Despite the decline, officials said that the pilgrimage is progressing smoothly and peacefully, with robust security and logistical arrangements in place across all transit and base locations.
“The yatra is proceeding without disruptions. All necessary facilities including shelter, food, medical assistance, and route security are fully operational,” an official said.
The 21st batch of 2,837 pilgrims, including 2,286 men and eight children, left the Bhagwati Nagar base camp in 128 vehicles for the twin base camps in Kashmir, the officials said.
With this, a total of 1,30,378 pilgrims have departed from the Jammu base camp for the valley since July 2, when Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha flagged off the first batch
This year’s Amarnath Yatra, scheduled to conclude on August 9. It’s being conducted amid unprecedented security measures, including drone surveillance, RFID tracking for pilgrims and a multi-layered deployment of forces.
