Pilgrims offer prayers at Amarnath shrine

16 June : Over 5,000 devotees paid obeisance at the Amarnath cave shrine in south Kashmir on Tuesday even as the pilgrimage remained suspended from Jammu owing to inclement weather. "As many as 5,457 pilgrims offered prayers at the shrine," Ganderbal Deputy Commissioner and Yatra Officer Syed Iftikhar Bari said on Tuesday.

Earlier, over 11,000 devotees, chanting "Bam Bam Bole" and "Har Har Mahadev", began their 16-km trek to the shrine from the Baltal base camp, some 100-km from Srinagar.The officer said nearly 5,500 pilgrims were, however, brought back to Baltal following torrential rains and snowing on the route.No fresh batch of pilgrims left Jammu for Baltal on Tuesday morning in view of hostile weather on the mountainous route, a Shri Amarnath Shrine Board spokesman said.

The pilgrimage from Jammu would remain suspended tomorrow also, a police spokesman in the winter capital said on Tuesday.The annual two-month pilgrimage commenced from Monday when the first batch of 900 devotees left Jammu amid tight security.The pilgrimage to 3,880-ft high shrine was to commence on 7th June but was put off due to heavy accumulation of snow on the Pahalgam route.
--
By :  News Team