Srinagar,
On the 18th day of the Amarnath Yatra, the number of devotees is expected to cross three lakhs. On Sunday, another batch of 4,388 pilgrims left for Kashmir from Jammu. This journey is taking place amid unprecedented security. So far, more than 2.75 lakh pilgrims have visited Baba Barfani.
4,388 pilgrims reach Kashmir from Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas in Jammu, while four times more pilgrims reach here directly here and either register in transit camps or in both base camps, there. This number is likely to cross three lakhs on Sunday.
Army, Jammu and Kashmir Police, BSF, CRPF, SSB, CISF and other security personnel are watching round the clock on the two routes from Jammu to Baltal and Pahalgam and two routes from Baltal and Pahalgam to Amarnath cave. The army has deployed more than 8,000 special forces in addition to 180 additional companies already deployed on travel duty.
On every five meters on the journey route, fully armed personnel of various CAPF units are deployed, and due to this extraordinary vigilance this year, the belief of the pilgrims for the pilgrimage of the Himalayan Amarnath Cave Temple has become even stronger.
The authorities have made extensive multi-level security arrangements for this year’s Amarnath Yatra, as the yatra is taking place after the April 22’s dastard attack, in which Pakistan-backed militants killed 26 innocents on the basis of faith in the Basaron Valley of Pahalgam.
An official said, “Today, another batch of 4,388 passengers left for the valley in two security convoys from Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas. The first security convoy of 64 vehicles left for the Baltal base camp at 3.30 am with 1,573 passengers, while the second security convoy of 115 vehicles took 2,815 passengers at 4 am.”
On 10 July, ‘stick Mubarak’ (holy mace of Lord Shiva) was worshiped in Pahalgam. The stick Mubarak was taken by a group of saints under the leadership of Mahant Swami Deepender Giri, the only patron of the stick Mubarak, to Pahalgam from his place at Dashanami Akhara Bhawan in Srinagar.
In Pahalgam, the stick Mubarak was taken to the Gauri Shankar temple, where Bhumi Pujan was done. After this, the stick Mubarak was taken back to his place in the Dashnami Akhara Bhawan.
This stick Mubarak will start its last journey from Dashanami Akhara Temple in Srinagar towards the cave temple on August 4 and will reach the holy cave temple on 9 August, which will be officially concluded.
This year, the journey began on 3 July and will end on 9 August after 38 days, which is a coincidence of Shravan Purnima and Raksha Bandhan.
Passengers reach the holy cave temple located 3888 meters above sea level in Kashmir Himalayas either by traditional Pahalgam route or small Baltal route.
People using Pahalgam route reach the cave temple via Chandanwadi, Sheshnag and Panchatarni, and travel 46 km. In this journey it takes four days for the pilgrims to reach the cave temple. And, those using the small Baltal route have to travel 14 km to reach the cave temple and return the base camp on the same day after visiting. No helicopter service is available for passengers this year due to security reasons.