Amarnath Yatra suspended from Jammu as national highway stays shut after heavy rain
The Amarnath Yatra was suspended from the Bhagwati Nagar base camp in Jammu on Saturday as the Jammu-Srinagar Highway remained closed for the second straight
The Amarnath Yatra was suspended from the Bhagwati Nagar base camp in Jammu on Saturday as the Jammu-Srinagar Highway remained closed for the second straight day due to incessant rain, officials said. No fresh batch of pilgrims was allowed to leave for the Kashmir Valley as repair work continued on the highway. Amid a drop in the number of pilgrims arriving in Jammu, the Shri Amarnath Ji Shrine Board also shifted registration and token distribution counters from the Tawi Riverfront to the Bhagwati Nagar base camp.
Read Full Story Since the pilgrimage began on July 3, around 4.5 lakh devotees have visited the cave shrine, and the yatra is scheduled to end on August 28, coinciding with Raksha Bandhan. Officials said no fresh batch was permitted to leave the Jammu base camp because repair work was under way on the Ladha-Samroli stretch of the highway in Udhampur district. The 250-km strategic Jammu-Srinagar Highway, also known as NH44, is the only all-weather road linking the Kashmir Valley with the rest of the country.
Both sides of the highway were shut to traffic on Friday shortly after the Amarnath Yatra convoy passed through, so that damage caused by rain last week could be repaired. Fresh spells of rain have since disrupted the work, leaving the road surface slushy, muddy and extremely slippery. Light to moderate rainfall was reported from parts of Ramban and Udhampur districts, officials said. They also said the Tawi Riverfront had been developed as a centralised facility for offline registration, token distribution, e-KYC verification and RFID issuance for Amarnath pilgrims.
With the inflow of pilgrims tapering off, these facilities have now been consolidated at the Bhagwati Nagar base camp, officials said. The pilgrimage to the cave shrine housing the naturally formed ice lingam in the south Kashmir Himalayas will continue till August 28, subject to conditions on the route. Ends
The BriefWire