Over 7,000 pilgrims leave Jammu camp for Amarnath

The 13th batch comprising 7,107 pilgrims left in 265 vehicles in two separate convoys for the twin base camps of Pahalgam and Baltal in the Kashmir Valley.

Jammu: A batch of over 7,000 Amarnath pilgrims left the Bhagwati Nagar base camp in Jammu city under tight security arrangements on Tuesday morning, officials said. The 13th batch comprising 7,107 pilgrims left in 265 vehicles in two separate convoys for the twin base camps of Pahalgam and Baltal in the Kashmir Valley, the officials said.

They said while 1,949 devotees left in 98 vehicles for Baltal around 3.40 am, 5,158 pilgrims left in 175 vehicles for the Nunwan-Pahalgam base camp around 4.30 am. With this, 76,662 pilgrims have left the Bhagwati Nagar base camp for the Valley since June 29, the day the first batch of pilgrims was flagged off by Jammu and Kashmir Lt Governor Manoj Sinha.

The 43-day-long pilgrimage to the 3,880-metre-high cave shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas commenced on June 30 from the twin tracks -- the traditional 48-km Nunwan-Pahalgam route in south Kashmir's Anantnag district and 14-km shorter Baltal in central Kashmir's Ganderbal district.

So far, over 1.20 lakh pilgrims had visited the Amarnath cave shrine. The pilgrimage is scheduled to end on August 11 on the occasion of 'Shravan Purnima' coinciding with Raksha Bandhan. (PTI)