Landslides cut off yatris from Amarnath cave

Hours after the annual Amarnath pilgrimage began, landslides on the traditional Pahalgam route to the cave shrine forced its suspension today. But not before around 5,000 pilgrims who had taken the Baltal route managed to have a darshan of the ice shivalingam.

Hours after the annual Amarnath pilgrimage began, landslides on the traditional Pahalgam route to the cave shrine forced its suspension today. But not before around 5,000 pilgrims who had taken the Baltal route managed to have a darshan of the ice shivalingam.

The yatra was officially flagged off yesterday from Jammu and the first batch of pilgrims was scheduled to start today on the 46-km stretch from Pahalgam to the cave. But due to overnight rains and snowfall, the yatra was suspended on both the Pahalgam and Baltal routes.

‘‘All the pilgrims are safe,’’ said Hemant Kumar Lohia, Deputy Inspector General of Police, South Kashmir, monitoring the Yatra. ‘‘There was snowfall at Maha Gunas and Posh Pathri areas which triggered landslides following which the yatra was suspended. While the yatra officially started today, a large number of pilgrims taking the Baltal route already had darshan over the past few days.

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Lohia said the pilgrims were not allowed to proceed from the Nunwan base camp in Pahalgam due to bad weather. He said efforts were under way to clear the track. ‘‘We are monitoring the situation and pilgrims will be allowed to proceed only after the weather improves.’’

Around 2,000 pilgrims have been stranded at the base camp in Pahalgam. Shri Amarnath Ji Shrine Board Chief Executive Officer Arun Kumar said that the yatra on Baltal route went on as scheduled. ‘‘The weather was good on this route and around 5,000 pilgrims had darshan at the cave,’’ he said. The J-K government has deployed a multi-tier security ring comprising over 5,000 army, BSF, CRPF and police personnel on both the routes to ensure a peaceful yatra. The yatra has been attacked in the past by the militants. The two-month yatra was flagged off yesterday at Jammu by J-K Transport Minister Mangat Ram Sharma and the first batch of yatris reached Pahalgam yesterday itself. More pilgrims joined them today. J-K government is expecting five lakh pilgrims to the shrine this year.