Jammu, Aug 16: On Wednesday, a group of 834 pilgrims underwent the yearly Amarnath pilgrimage and departed under heavy security from a base camp here for the Kashmir Valley, according to officials.
They said that between 3 and 3.40 am, the 39th batch, which included 614 males, 146 females, 67 seers, and seven children, left the Bhagwati Nagar base camp for the twin base camps in Pahalgam and Baltal in a convoy of 27 cars.Beginning on July 1 from the twin routes of Pahalgam in the Anantnag district and Baltal in the Ganderbal district, the 62-day annual pilgrimage to the 3,888-meter-high cave shrine in the south Kashmir Himalayas began. 586 pilgrims have so far decided to travel the 48-kilometer Nunwan-Pahalgam route, and 20 vehicles carried them to Amarnath.
The remaining 248 chose the 14-kilometer, more difficult Baltal path, and they departed Jammu for the Amarnath in seven vehicles.At the subterranean sanctuary, more than 4.25 lakh pilgrims have already made their obeisance.
On August 31, the yatra is supposed to come to an end.
