J&K Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha flags off 1st batch of Amarnath Yatra pilgrims from Jammu –

Amid chants of “Bum Bum Bhole” and “Har Har Mahadev”, Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha flagged off the first batch of Amarnath Yatra pilgrims from the Yatri Niwas base camp in Bhagwati Nagar early this morning. A total of 5892 pilgrims left for the valley, of which 2489 shall perform yatra via the Baltal route, whereas 3403 will follow the longer Anantnag route to reach the holy cave.
 
The 38-day yatra to the 3,880-metre-high Amarnath shrine shall formally begin tomorrow via both the routes- the traditional 48-kilometre Nunwan-Pahalgam track in Anantnag and the shorter but steeper 14-kilometre Baltal route in Ganderbal. The pilgrimage will conclude on Shravan Poornima, which falls on August 9 this year.
 
The pilgrims are being escorted by a robust security convoy along the yatra route. More than 3.31 lakh devotees have already registered for this year’s yatra so far, whereas On-the-spot registration has also begun at Jammu, with nearly 4,000 tokens distributed over the last two days.
 
Authorities have implemented a robust security plan with a multi-tiered grid, CCTV surveillance, and daily traffic advisories.