Amarnath Yatra to begin June 28 from Baltal route

The annual Amarnath Yatra, beginning June 28 this year, will start on schedule from the Baltal route in north Kashmir while a final call on allowing the pilgrims from the Pahalgam route in the south would be taken next week, the shrine board's CEO said Thursday.

"The annual Amarnath Yatra would begin on schedule from the Baltal route on June 28 while a final call on starting the Yatra from the Pahalgam route would be taken June 23. There is six feet snow in the area of the holy cave, four feet deep snow at Sheshnag, seven feet deep snow at Mahagunas top and four feet deep snow at Sangam halting points on the Pahalgam route.

"The track maintenance work is in full swing on both the routes but because of the heavy snow accumulation on the Pahalgam track, Governor N.N. Vohra (who is also the chairman of the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB)) has directed that I visit the tracks on both sides on June 21 and June 22," said SASB CEO R.K. Gupta at a media conference here.

Gupta said around 193,000 pilgrims have registered for this year's Yatra for both the tracks.

"It is important that no Yatri undertakes the Yatra without registration and without the medical fitness certificate. This is in the interests of the Yatris themselves because the Yatra is difficult given the terrain involved," he said.

The Yatra will conclude Aug 10 coinciding with the Shravan Purnima festival.