300,000 pilgrims have so far registered for Amarnath Yatra: Shrine board

Over three lakh pilgrims have till now registered for the 62-day Amarnath Yatra -- the longest ever, the shrine board said here on Wednesday.

The number of registrations so far is 10 per cent more than last year, CEO of Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) Mandeep Kumar Bhandari said.

The shrine board and the union territory administration are ready to welcome the yatris, he said.

The annual pilgrimage to the 3,880-metre-high holy cave shrine of Amarnath in the south Kashmir Himalayas is scheduled to start on July 1.

The first batch of pilgrims are leaving for the Valley from Jammu's Bhagwati Nagar base camp on June 30.

The Yatra will commence on July 1 and will last till August 31. This year's pilgrimage will be of 62 days and will be the longest ever so far, Bhandari said.

So far, over three lakh pilgrims have registered with the board via different modes of registration, he said.

The CEO said yatris up to the age of 70 years can perform the pilgrimage, which can be undertaken from the two routes of Baltal -- which involves 14.5 km trekking -- and Chandanwari -- 32 km of a trek up to the holy cave shrine at the height of 13,000 feet.

This year, the Yatra tracks on both routes have been made better. The tracks have been widened and hand railings have been installed, Bhandari informed.

Both the yatra tracks have been illuminated to facilitate the movement of the pilgrims smoothly, he added.

The CEO said at vulnerable points, helmets have been made available for the pilgrims so that they can protect themselves from shooting stones and landslides during heavy rains.

Mountain rescue teams have been deployed en route the cave shrine for quick evacuation, he added.

Taking note of the flash floods that killed 15 people last year, Bhandari said no pilgrim will be allowed to stay near the cave shrine during the night.

Public addressing systems as well as video walls have been placed in all the camps to inform the passengers about important information.

A major effort has been made to make telecom available on the entire track, in which OFC cables have been laid on both the tracks by the service providers so that internet facility and telecom facility are available at all times, he said.

The shrine board, Rural Development Department, various municipal corporations, and development authorities have taken a joint initiative to set up around 5,100 separate toilets this year for the Yatra, Bhandari said.