Over 1.5 lakh pilgrims make Amarnath Yatra

More than 1.5 lakh pilgrims have finished the Amarnath Yatra that started here June 28.

An official statement here Wednesday said: "As many as 12,345 devotees paid their obeisance before the ice lingam today (Wednesday) amid chanting of prayers. With this, a total of 155,855 pilgrims have paid obeisance at the holy cave since the commencement of Shri Amarnathji Yatra from Baltal route June 28 and from Pahalgam route July 2."

"Clear weather in the morning enabled the camp directors of the Shrine Board to allow the yatris (pilgrims) camping at Baltal (north Kashmir route) and Nunwan base camps (South Kashmir route) to move towards the holy cave shrine."

"On-the-spot registration of yatris is proceeding smoothly in Jammu at Vaishnavi Dham, Saraswati Dham, Jammu Haat and Geeta Bhawan and in Srinagar at TRC Nowgam," the statement said.

"The quota for on-the-spot registration for each route is released daily on the basis of the trend of arrival of yatris at Baltal and Chandanwari, and also keeping in view the number of pilgrims registered earlier by the 426 branches of various banks."

The statement added: "It may be recalled that the Board had provided advance registration arrangements through 426 branches of Punjab National Bank, Jammu and Kashmir Bank and YES Bank enabling the yatris to register themselves for Yatra 2014. This advance registration facility was made available from March 1, 2014 onwards and, as of now, 241,464 pilgrims have received advance registration".

This year's yatra will end Aug 10, coinciding with the Shravan Purnima festival.