The annual Amarnath pilgrimage remained suspended for the second day on Friday due to incessant rains along the route to the holy cave. More than 20,000 pilgrims are stranded at various places. No yatri was allowed to leave Jammu.
The pilgrimage was suspended on Thursday owing to heavy rains, Additional Chief Executive Officer of the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB) Saugat Biswas told TheHindu.
The decision to resume the yatra will be taken after assessing the weather conditions.
Adequate arrangements were being made for the stranded yatris, he added. Authorities stopped pilgrims from moving ahead from the Jammu base camp, as 2,244 pilgrims who had left on Thursday, were stranded at Ramban on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway.
“Once they are cleared, the new batch will be allowed to move,” an official said.
Officials at the Police Control Room confirmed that over 20,000 yatris from the Baltal and Nunwan base camps were stranded. As many as 7,427 were stuck at Shehsnag on the Pahalgam side, while 5,801 were stranded at Baltal. Pilgrims are also stranded at Piso Top, Zojibal, Nunwan, Chandanwari, Panjtarni and the holy cave.
Efforts are on to make their journey safe. “There is nothing to worry, all of them will reach their respective destinations,” an official said.
Jammu and Kashmir Governor N.N. Vohra, who is also the chairman of the SASB, is monitoring the situation. The SASB is in touch with Meteorological Department to assess the weather conditions, sources said.
The pilgrimage commenced on July 1 and so far more than 2.9-lakh pilgrims have paid obeisance at the shrine. The yatra is scheduled to conclude on August 24.
Three pilgrims die
Three pilgrims on way to the shrine have died due to cardiac arrest at Baltal and Sheshnag, sources said. Pardeep Kumar Jaswal (22) of Uttar Pradesh died at Sheshnag on the Pahalgam-Amarnath route on Thursday.
Badkar Parvinder (55) of Madhya Pradesh died at Baltal, and Suthi Lal Gupta (55) of Varanasi died at Dumel near Baltal.
Forty pilgrims have died so far.
