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Fifth batch of 5522 pilgrims leaves Jammu for Amarnath

KT NEWS SERVICE. Dated: 7/5/2019 5:15:44 AM

Highest number of pilgrims in a single batch so far’

Jammu, Jul 4: Fifth batch of 5,522 Amarnath pilgrims left Bhagwati Nagar base camp Thursday morning for the cave shrine in the Kashmir valley from Jammu amid tight security arrangements.
“An escorted convoy of vehicles carrying the 5,522 pilgrims left the Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas here for the valley. This batch consisted of highest number of pilgrims so far,” said an official.
“The fifth batch comprising 4,456 men, 871 women, 31 children and 164 seers -- left the base camp here at around 3.30 AM for Pahalgam and Baltal in a fleet of 235 vehicles,” he added.
As many as 3002 pilgrims left the base camp for the Pahalgam route in 106 buses and light motor vehicles, while 2,520 left for Baltal in 129 buses and light motor vehicles, which were escorted by Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel.
Previously, the highest number of 4,823 pilgrims had left Jammu for the holy cave shrine on Tuesday.
Over 1.5 lakh pilgrims from across the country have so far registered themselves for the 46-day long pilgrimage, which has two routes -- the 36-km Pahalgam track in Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag district and the 14-km stretch from Baltal in Ganderbal district. The yatra to the holy cave commenced on Monday from both the Baltal and Pahalgam routes in the Kashmir valley. The first batch of pilgrims was flagged off from here on Sunday.
Multi-tier security arrangements have been put in place for a smooth and successful conduct of the “yatra” scheduled to conclude on August 15. As many as 2.85 lakh pilgrims had paid obeisance at the cave shrine last year, while the numbers were 3.52 lakh in 2015, 3.20 lakh in 2016 and 2.60 lakh in 2017.
So far, 16,789 Yatris have paid obeisance at the holy cave.