JAMMU: On Tuesday, a new group of 6,225 pilgrims headed for the Amarnath temple in the south Kashmir Himalayas departed from Jammu base camp. A convoy of 217 cars carrying pilgrims departed under heavy protection. While 3,714 pilgrims travelling to Pahalgam left in a convoy of 131 cars towards the valley, 2,511 pilgrims travelling to the Baltal base camp left in a convoy of 86 vehicles. Since the first group of pilgrims started the yatra on June 30, a total of 99,738 have departed the Jammu base camp for the valley.The 62-day yearly journey to the 3,888-meter-high cave sanctuary began on July 1 from the twin roads of Pahalgam in the Anantnag district and Baltal in the Ganderbal region. Already, more than 2.30 lakh people had paid their respects. The yatra is scheduled to conclude on August 31.
