After remaining suspended for four days following flash floods that claimed 15 lives, the Amarnath Yatra resumed along the Baltal route in Ganderbal district on Tuesday.
A fresh batch of the pilgrims left the Baltal base camp early morning for the cave shrine.
Also, a batch of over 7,000 Amarnath pilgrims left the Bhagwati Nagar base camp in Jammu city under tight security arrangements on Tuesday morning, officials said.
The 43-day-long pilgrimage to the 3,880-metre-high cave shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas began on June 30 from the twin tracks — the traditional 48-km Nunwan-Pahalgam route in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district and 14-km shorter Baltal in central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district.
So far, over 1.20 lakh pilgrims have visited the Amarnath cave shrine. The pilgrimage is scheduled to end on August 11 on the occasion of ‘Shravan Purnima’ coinciding with Raksha Bandhan.
A cloudburst near the base camp of the holy cave shrine of Amarnath in south Kashmir Himalayas on July 8 killed 15 persons.
The gushing waters following the clouburst disrupted the pilgrimage, forcing the authorities to suspend it till weather improved.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah had directed central forces and Jammu and Kashmir administration to ensure swift operations to rescue people affected in the cloudburst.
