Fresh batch of over 6,000 pilgrims embark on Amarnath Yatra from Jammu

Jammu, July 19: A fresh batch of 6,365 pilgrims, including 1,499 women and 441 children, left the Bhagwati Nagar base camp here on Saturday to join the ongoing annual Amarnath Yatra in the south Kashmir Himalayas, officials said.

The pilgrims, which included 135 sadhus and sadhvis, left for the twin base camps of Nunwan-Pahalgam in Anantnag and Baltal in Ganderbal in separate convoys under tight security arrangements in the early hours of the day, they said.

While 3,514 pilgrims left for Pahalgam in a convoy of 119 vehicles, 2,851 pilgrims travelling in 92 vehicles preferred the Baltal route, officials said.

The 38-day annual pilgrimage to the 3,880-metre high cave shrine started from the two routes on July 3 and is scheduled to end on August 9, coinciding with the Raksha Bandhan festival.

Over 2.75 lakh pilgrims have so far paid their obeisance at the shrine, which houses a naturally formed Shivlingam.