Amarnath Yatra suspended due to bad weather

The third batch of over 2,876 pilgrims had left Bhagwati Nagar base camp in a fleet of 90 vehicles under tight security at today morning. However, they will now have to return from Chandanwari, which is at a distance of 15 kms from Pahalgam.

Heavy rainfall in Jammu and Kashmir for the past 36 hours stalled the Amarnath Yatra. The third batch of pilgrims, who left for the yatra today morning, have been asked to return as movement from Pahalgam, one of the twin routes to the cave shrine, has been suspended due to bad weather and landslide.
A batch of over 2,876 pilgrims had left Bhagwati Nagar base camp in a fleet of 90 vehicles under tight security at in the morning. However, they will now have to return from Chandanwari, which is at a distance of 15 kms from Pahalgam.

“No pilgrim was allowed to move towards the Cave Shrine because of rain and slippery conditions along the two treks,” an official said.

Landslides in the Banihal-Udhampur sector and shooting of stones at four places at Panthal, Nedgard, Digdol and Samroli earlier in the day blocked the 260-km highway – the only all-weather road connecting Kashmir with rest of the country, officials said.

Security has been bolstered to avoid any untoward incident. “Our personnel are patrolling 24×7. We’ve also got special dog squad to help us detect suspicious objects and we have also started a helpline, senior superintendent of police, railways, said.

The 60-day annual pilgrimage was scheduled to start from Pahalgam in Anantnag district and Baltal in Ganderbal district Thursday morning. Over two lakh pilgrims have so far registered for the yatra which is scheduled to conclude on August 26 coinciding with the ‘Raksha Bandhan’ festival.