Amid tight security, 10th batch of 7,800 pilgrims leave Jammu for Amarnath

The 10th batch of over 7,800 Amarnath Yatra pilgrims left the Jammu base camp in the early hours of Wednesday for the twin base camps in Kashmir amid tight security arrangements, officials said.

The yatra resumed from the Jammu base camp on Tuesday afternoon after remaining suspended for three days in view of the closure of the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway for repairs in the Ramban section.

A total of 137,353 pilgrims have visited the Amarnath shrine since July 1, the officials said.

The 62-day annual pilgrimage to the 3,888-metre-high cave shrine in the south Kashmir Himalayas commenced from the twin tracks of Pahalgam in Anantnag district and Baltal in Ganderbal district on July 1. The yatra is scheduled to conclude on August 31.

A total of 7,805 pilgrims left the Bhagwati Nagar base camp here for the Valley in a convoy of 339 vehicles around 3.15 am, the officials said.

They said 4,677 pilgrims are headed for Pahalgam in a convoy of 207 vehicles and 3,128 pilgrims left for the Baltal base camp in a convoy of 132 vehicles.

With this, 56,303 pilgrims have now departed the Jammu base camp for the Valley since June 30, when the first batch began the yatra.

"We are happy that our prayers were heard by Lord Shiva who facilitated our pilgrimage to his abode," Sunita Devi of Assam said. She was with a group of 23 people stranded in Jammu for the last seven days.

Expressing happiness and appreciation that the administration reconstructed within hours the road damaged due to floods triggered by heavy, she said "they have fulfilled my wish of visiting Barfani Baba".

The incessant rains on Saturday and Sunday caused unprecedented damage to the highway, especially a stretch in Ramban district, forcing its closure.