Yatra overcrowded,authorities face backlog

We stopped the yatra on Wednesday as the Baltal base camp was overcrowded, said Deputy Commissioner of Jammu M K Bhandari. In fact,the number of unregistered pilgrims is far more than the registered ones. Officials said the number of pilgrims allowed from Jammu on a daily-basis is 1,500-2,000. However,7,000-10,000 pilgrims reach the base camp on their own.

Every day,the base camp witnesses a backlog of nearly 4,000 pilgrims. Our first priority is to clear the backlog of yatris. On Wednesday,we allowed nearly 8,000 yatris for the pilgrimage, said A R Lone,yatra in-charge officer at Baltal camp.