JAMMU: Over 2,300 yatris departed the base camp here on Wednesday under heavy security to make the journey to the 3,880-meter-high holy cave shrine of Amarnath in the south Kashmir Himalayas, according to officials. Since the annual yatra began on July 1 from the twin routes of Pahalgam in the Kashmir Valley’s Anantnag district and Baltal in the Ganderbal district, over 3.35 lakh pilgrims have already paid respects at the cave shrine. As a total of 2,372 pilgrims, including 1,955 men, 357 women, 54 seers, and six children, departed Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas in the morning, the Central Reserve Police Force provided tight security..According to reports, a convoy of 33 trucks carrying 671 pilgrims bound for Baltal left the camp first, then a second convoy of 70 vehicles carrying 1,701 pilgrims bound for Pahalgam. Since June 29, when Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha waved off the first batch of pilgrims, over 1.30 lakh have left the Bhagwati Nagar camp for the valley.
