A 'sevadar' working at a community kitchen died due to cardiac arrest at Baltal Base camp in Kashmir's Ganderbal district, raising the death toll in the ongoing Amarnath yatra to 11.
Sevadar Vinod Kumar Yadav of Uttar Pradesh breathed his last at Baltal base camp last night along the shorter 12-km track to the cave shrine, officials said.
Eleven people, including a CRPF jawan, have died in the yatra.
A pilgrim identified as Bahbah Bharat of Gujarat fell from a horse while on way to the cave shrine near Sangam along the Baltal route and suffered injuries.
He was shifted to hospital and was undergoing treatment, the officials said.
They said the yatra was going on smoothly from the Baltal, as well as the 42-km traditional Pahalgam routes in Anantnag district of south Kashmir.
5,658 pilgrims had 'darshan' of the ice-lingam at the cave shrine till 1 PM today, they said.
So far 1,51,862 pilgrims have visited the shrine since the commencement of the yatra on July 2.
The 48-days yatra is scheduled to end on August 18, coinciding with 'Shravan Purnima' and 'Raksha Bandhan' festivals.
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Taking note of reports that Amaranth pilgrims are being "over-charged" on their return from Baltal and Srinagar to Jammu, state Transport Department said it has made adequate arrangements for transportation of the pilgrims.
The department said arrangements have been made by the J&K State Road Transport Corporation as well as the private buses on the rates approved by the government, an official spokesperson said.
Adequate number of J&K SRTC buses are available at the SRTC yard at TRC Srinagar.
The department has advised pilgrims to avail this facility as the movement of these buses is being regulated in coordination with the J&K State Road Transport Corporation, Tourism Department and Motor Vehicle Department.
Adequate number of vehicles are available at Baltal, the Department claimed.
The Department said the representatives of the aforesaid departments have been stationed round the clock at TRC Srinagar and can be reached on telephone numbers 0194-2502512 and 0194-2506686.
