The annual Amarnath yatra has been re-scheduled and will now commence from June 15. The postponement has been forced by the presence of heavy snow on the yatra route to the Himalayan Cave Shrine located at a height of 13000 feet from both southern Chandanwari and northern Baltal routes.
Three persons, including two devotees, were killed and over 10,000 pilgrims stranded as heavy rain lashed parts of Jammu and Kashmir prompting authorities to suspend the annual pilgrimage to the holy cave shrine of Amarnath on Sunday.
Till July 7, nearly 82,000 devotees had paid their obeisance at the shrine.
Expressing grief over the Uttarakhand tragedy, the moderate Hurriyat Conference on Friday demanded restricting Amarnath Yatra to an earlier schedule to safeguard the fragile environment of Himalayas.
The Governor also stressed on coordinated efforts between agencies and the shrine board for an incident-free 'yatra' like in the past three years.
Undettered by the grenade attack on pilgrims at Baltal, 18th batch of 1,259 pilgrims left for the holy cave shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas on Friday.
The board will also provide modern shelters made of pre-fabricated material, J&K Governor Sinha added.
The Corps commander said Pakistan and its army were desperate to disrupt peace in Kashmir Valley.
Over 1.38 lakh pilgrims have paid obeisance at the holy cave shrine of Amarnath in south Kashmir Himalayas since the pilgrimage started on June 10.
The board said the yatra would continue between June 21 and July 5 from the Baltal route and not the Pahalgam one due to heavy snowfall in that region.
The Amarnath yatra was suspended today due to inclement weather conditions in the south Kashmir Himalayas, official sources said in Jammu
Over 1.43 lakh intending pilgrims have registered themselves for this year's Amarnath Yatra beginning from July 2.
Terrorists on Monday night killed seven Amarnath pilgrims, including six women, and injured 19 others as they struck at a bus in Kashmir's Anantnag district, in the worst attack on the annual pilgrimage since the year 2001. Five of those killed were from Gujarat and two from Maharashtra. Here are the latest updates:
PM to launch works on Zojila tunnel, other infrastructure projects.
The Manali-Leh National Highway-3 was blocked after heavy rainfall triggered landslide in Himachal Pradesh's Kullu district on Friday.
Two pilgrims and a woman tourist from Delhi died of cardiac arrest enroute the holy cave shrine of Amarnath in South Kashmir, taking the death toll in the ongoing pilgrimage to five, even as nearly 80,000 pilgrims paid obeisance at the cave shrine since July 2.
In wake of the last year's attack, special gadgets and new and better technology have been used to further strengthen the security.
In a bid to enhance preparedness for disaster management among government officials involved in management of the annual Amarnath Yatra starting July 2, National Disaster Management Authority has planed to conduct a three-day mock drill.
Drones are being used for aerial security of the Amarnath base camp at Bhagwati Nagar area of Jammu city for the first time while at least 20,000 security personnel have been deployed along the two routes.
'After shots were fired from the front, I ducked and shifted my position instinctively.' 'I had heard from other drivers that when stones are pelted at a bus the first target is the driver.'
Three eyewitnesses, who saw deaths around them, as terrorists pumped bullets into a bus (GJ09Z9976) carrying 56 tourists heading to Katra from Srinagar, recount their horrors.
Kashmiri Pandits complain that the Jammu and Kashmir government has simply cowered to hardline sentiments and that the real reason for canceling the pilgrimage was not due to ecological concerns but because of religion. Upasna Pandey reports
Bereaved families on how they are coping with their tragedies after terrorists gunned down seven tourists from Gujarat and Maharashtra on July 10 in Kashmir
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