The largest group of 8,815 devotees leaves for Amarnath Yatra, cheers of Bam-Bam Bhole are heard everywhere.

More than 93,000 devotees have visited the holy cave temple

Jammu. The largest group of this year so far left for Amarnath Yatra from Bhagwati Nagar base camp in Jammu on Tuesday amid tight security arrangements. This group includes a total of 8,815 devotees including 31 foreign nationals. In the first four days of the yatra, more than 93,000 devotees have visited the sacred cave temple located at an altitude of 3,880 meters in the southern Himalayas. Today this number is expected to cross one lakh.

According to officials, the sixth batch includes 5,831 men, 2,193 women, 31 children, 598 sadhus, 131 sadhvis and 31 foreign nationals. Of these, 3,989 pilgrims in 181 vehicles left for Baltal base camp in Ganderbal district of central Kashmir, while 4,826 pilgrims in 182 vehicles left for the traditional Pahalgam route in Anantnag district of South Kashmir.

With the batch that left on Tuesday, a total of 34,829 pilgrims have left for Kashmir from the Jammu base camp since the commencement of the Amarnath Yatra on July 2. As the devotees left, the Bhagwati Nagar base camp echoed with cheers of ‘Bam-Bam Bhole’, ‘Har-Har Mahadev’ and ‘Jai Barfani Baba Ki’. Many devotees expressed satisfaction over the arrangements made for the smooth conduct of the Yatra.

An official said that the group of devotees that left on Tuesday is the largest group since the beginning of the Yatra. Earlier on Sunday, the largest batch of 6,721 devotees had left. 5,794 devotees had left on Monday and 4,812 on July 4. The 57-day long Amarnath Yatra of the holy cave temple will conclude on Rakshabandhan day on August 28.

Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir administration has appealed to unregistered pilgrims planning to undertake Amarnath Yatra to postpone their journey for a few days. The administration said that due to the unprecedented rush of devotees, all the registrations till July 9 have already been filled.

Officials have also clarified that only registered devotees will be allowed to proceed towards Kashmir. Devotees without registration will be stopped at designated check posts until new registration quota becomes available.

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