SHRI BABA BUDHA AMARNATH | Pilgrimage to start today

Rajouri: The annual Shri Baba Budha Amarnath Yatra, a pilgrimage to Baba Shri Budha Amarnath Temple at Poonch Mandi, is going to start from Thursday. All the base camps have been established in twin districts Rajouri and Poonch.

The annual pilgrimage starts in mid August and lasts for around 10 to 11 days before culmination on the day of festival of Raksha Bandhan when a Chari Yatra is taken out from Dashnami Akhara Mandir Poonch to Baba Shri Budha Amarnath Mandir Mandi.

The temple for this pilgrimage called as Baba Shri Budha Amarnath Mandir is located in Poonch Mandi town of Poonch district and this pilgrimage has a vital importance for Hindus and it is directly associated with Shri Amarnath Ji Yatra.

This year, officials said, the pilgrimage is going to start on Thursday with first batch of pilgrims shall reached Rajouri, Poonch.

“The first batch of pilgrimage will be flagged off from Jammu on Thursday morning and it shall reach Rajouri in afternoon before proceeding towards Poonch where it is expected to reach on Thursday evening.” said officials.

In Rajouri,they said, two main base camps have been established that include at Sunderbani and at Rajouri.

The Rajouri base camp established at army ground near water point alongside highway is a main base camp in the district where the pilgrims will be served lunch after which they will further proceed towards Poonch district.

At Poonch, officials said, pilgrims will spend their night at base camp at Akhara Mandir in city and on next morning they will move towards Baba Shri Budha Amarnath Mandir at Poonch Mandi.

The arrangements at the base camps have been put in place by the government authorities and departments with coordination of Indian army and support of different religious and social organisations which are looking after the arrangements for holding this annual pilgrimage.

At Rajouri base camp, officials said, all kinds of basic arrangements have been finalized the local people along with the government authorities are set to receive the first batch of this holy pilgrimage.