Amarnath Yatra: 10th batch of 5,144 pilgrims leaves from Jammu
What's the story
The 10th batch of 5,144 pilgrims left Jammu for the holy cave shrine of Amarnath in south Kashmir Himalayas.
Officials said the fresh batch of pilgrims, including 1,039 women and 203 sadhus, left Bhagwati Nagar base camp in Jammu in a convoy of vehicles in the early hours today and are expected to reach base-camps of Pahalgam and Baltal in the Valley later today.
Route
Over 1,800 pilgrims went through Baltal route
A convoy of 67 vehicles heading for Baltal for their onward journey through the 12km arduous-track was the first to leave with 1,822 pilgrims, including 476 women.
The second convoy was of 128 vehicles with 3,322 pilgrims including 544 women and 203 sadhus who took the 36km Pahalgam route.
A total of 40,935 pilgrims had joined the yatra from the Bhagwati Nagar base camp.
Spoilsport
Heavy rains suspended the yatra several times this year
The inclement weather played a spoilsport this year as heavy rains forced suspension of the yatra several times over the past 12 days, as a result of which thousands of pilgrims were left stranded at various places from Lakhanpur, the gateway to J&K to the cave-shrine.
The MeT office again predicted wet weather from today till July 15 with heavy rains at isolated places.
Weather monitoring
MET officials say weather being monitored on hourly basis
The officials said the weather is being monitored on an hourly basis, especially along the yatra track and all necessary precautionary measures are being taken to ensure the safety of the pilgrims.
While heavy rains lashed Jammu this morning for over an hour, the weather along the twin tracks was cloudy but the pilgrimage was progressing smoothly and satisfactorily, they said.
Information
Over 1 lakh pilgrims paid their homage at the shrine
Over 1.04 lakh pilgrims from across India paid their obeisance till last evening at the 3,888m high cave, housing the naturally formed "Ice Shivlingam", since the beginning of the yatra on June-28 from the twin-tracks of Pahalgam in Anantnag district and Baltal in Ganderbal district.