Sharp decline in number of Amarnath pilgrims from Jammu

The number of devotees intending to undertake Amarnath yatra witnessed a substantial decline over the last week due to the premature melting of the naturally formed ice-shivling at the cave shrine

No fresh batch of pilgrims left the Bhagwati Nagar base camp in Jammu for the cave shrine of Amarnath in the south Kashmir Himalayas on Saturday, officials said amid a decline in the footfall of the devotees.

On August 2, Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha had appealed to the Amarnath pilgrims to visit the cave shrine before August 5 in view of a forecast of inclement weather and more rains.

The 43-day annual pilgrimage to the 3,880-metre-high cave shrine commenced on June 30 on the twin routes - the traditional 48-km Nunwan-Pahalgam route in Anantnag and the 14-km shorter Baltal route in Ganderbal. It is scheduled to end on August 11 on the occasion of "Shravan Purnima" coinciding with "Raksha Bandhan".

"No fresh batch of Amarnath pilgrims left the Bhagwati Nagar base camp here for the valley on Saturday," a police official said.

Sources said the number of devotees intending to undertake the yatra witnessed a substantial decline over the last week due to the premature melting of the naturally formed ice-shivling at the cave shrine.

"Over three lakh devotees from across the country have had Baba's darshan. Because of the rising temperatures, Baba does not have that form and the nature is also not supporting it.

"There has been heavy rainfall in many areas. I would like to request the devotees across the country, who are yet to have darshan, to come before August 5 as more rains are predicted after that," the LG had said.