The heavy rush of unregistered pilgrims pouring in thousands into the Valley daily is posing a serious challenge to the authorities who are facing overcrowding at the base camps, traffic jams and throwing haywire the logistics put in place for the annual Amarnath yatra.
Despite repeated appeals by the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board which manages the annual yatra, the flow of the unregistered pilgrims is creating even law and order situations at two base camps, north Kashmir Baltel and south Kashmir Nunwan near the tourist resort of Pahalgam.
On Sunday, nearly 30,000 unregistered pilgrims managed to reach the Baltel base camp overstretching the already strained logistics at the camp.
Despite heavy deployment of security forces all along the yatra route and en route checks, the pilgrims have been arriving in droves giving sleepless nights to the authorities managing the yatra.
Bad weather for the past three days has only added to the woes of the administration.
The SASB had been using various media channels advising the unregistered pilgrims to register themselves before embarking on the yatra.
Nearly four lakh pilgrims had registered themselves at various counters set up by the board across the country.
"We are prepared to receive and host a certain number of Yatris each day. Our plans and management strategy are based on the number of registered pilgrims. Unfortunately, we are facing a serious challenge as thousands of unregistered pilgrims reach here daily," said an official at the north Kashmir Baltal base camp.
Frustrated with the unending queues of unregistered Yatris, the police had to use batons to stop their passage into the Valley on Sunday.
"We cannot handle such numbers. In fact, nobody anywhere in the world can handle hordes of pilgrims at any place of worship", said a senior police officer.
"This is a dangerous trend, given the prevailing security scenario in Kashmir and the uphill treacherous treks yatris have to traverse. The bad weather can lead to a tragedy as did happen in 1996," said an official. Hundreds of pilgrims had died because of heavy snowfall along the treks, while thousands others were evacuated in August 1996.
