8 Aug : After remaining suspended for two days due to inclement weather conditions, the annual Amarnath pilgrimage on Sunday resumed from Jammu with a fresh batch leaving for the holy cave shrine in South Kashmir Himalayas.
“The yatra has been resumed after two days of suspension due to inclement weather conditions and heavy rains en route the cave shrine,” a Police Control Room (PCR) official said.
The yatra resumed Sunday morning from both the routes — traditional 45-km Pahalgam in Anantnag and shortest 16-km Baltal in Ganderbal district, officials said.
With the weather conditions improving in south Kashmir, a fresh batch of 1,720 pilgrims left for the cave shrine from the base camp of Bhagwati Nagar in Jammu in a fleet of 55 vehicles, they said.
With Sunday’s batch, as many as 81,220 pilgrims have left from Jammu to perform darshan of the Ice Lingam at the 3,888-mt high cave shrine.
According to officials in Srinagar, 4,193 pilgrims were allowed from Nunwan base camp along Pahalgam route, while 465 yatris proceeded towards the cave shrine from Baltal base camp Sunday morning.
The yatra was temporarily suspended on Friday after heavy rains rendered the twin tracks unsafe, leaving thousands of pilgrims stranded at various halting stations en route.
Over 4.30 lakh pilgrims have already paid obeisance at the shrine since the commencement of the yatra on 30th June.
Meanwhile, a 50-year-old woman identified as Kalaria Devi, a resident of Bihar, died of cardiac arrest at Sheshnag while returning from the cave shrine Saturday evening.
Devi’s death raised the number of pilgrims who died of natural causes during the ongoing two-month yatra to 75.
