Amarnath Yatra suspended for 3rd consecutive day due to bad weather

SRINAGAR: The annual Amarnath Yatra has been suspended for the third consecutive day on Sunday due to bad weather conditions in Jammu and Kashmir.

Authorities on Sunday stopped a batch of devotees at the Jammu Base camp due to the closure of the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway.

Following the suspension of the Yatra, 6,000 Amarnath Yatra pilgrims were stranded at Ramban, officials said.

At least 80 people from Karnataka were trapped in the Panchtarni, six km away from the Amarnath cave following the adverse weather conditions, said the Karnataka government on Saturday. Deputy Commissioner Ramban, Mussarat Islam told ANI that the administration is taking all steps to ensure that the pilgrims do not face any problems.

"The Amarnath Yatra was suspended yesterday following inclement weather...We have all the facilities available here at the 'yatri niwas' for the pilgrims. We are taking all possible steps to ensure that the pilgrims don't face any problems".

The official further informed that Jammu Srinagar National Highway (NH44) remains closed for vehicular traffic at Ramban due to a landslide.

At least 67,566 pilgrims visited the Amarnath cave shrine since the beginning of the Yatra on July 1. About 18,354 pilgrims on July 5 left for the Amarnath cave shrine both from the Baltal base camp and Nunwan base camp performed the darshan.

"These include 12483 males, 5146 females, 457 children, 266 sadhus, and 2 sadhvis," an official statement said earlier this week. The total number of yatris who performed Darshan since the beginning is 67566. More yatris will visit the shrine in the coming days," it added.

According to the official spokesperson, pilgrims are being assisted during their entire journey by state agencies and civil departments by making all the essentials and facilities available to devotees.

"All the departments including Police, SDRF, Army, paramilitary, Health, PDD, PHE, ULB, Information, Labour, Fire and Emergency, Education, and Animal Husbandry have saturated the overall requirements and arrangements of SANJY by the deployment of their men and machinery," it mentioned.

Under the supervision of Camp directors, the entire facilities are extended to yatris including Langers, health facilities, assistance by service providers including poniwallaa, pithuwalas, dandiwalas, sanitation, and many other assistance, the statement said. The 62-day-long Shri Amarnath Yatra will culminate on August 31, 2023.