Weather relents, Amarnath pilgrimage resumes

FORCED HALT: Lakhs of people from across India have turned up for the annual pilgrimage.

    

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Srinagar/Jammu: The Amarnath Yatra pilgrimage was suspended on Friday because of heavy rain along the Jammu-Srinagar highway and slippery conditions on the two tracks from Baltal and Pahalgam that lead to the cave shrine.

The pilgrimage resumed on Friday afternoon but the temporary suspension stranded 40,000 pilgrims at various places.

Buses carrying pilgrims were stopped at various places on the Srinagar-Baltal road because of heavy rush at the north Kashmir base camp.

A senior police officer told CNN-IBN the pilgrims have been put up in camps and the pilgrimage would resume after the weather improves.

“It is a temporary halt because of bad weather and heavy rush of pilgrims. Pilgrims have been put up in camps till the track is cleared and the weather condition improves,” said the Senior Superintendent of Police, Anantnag.

"Yatra on the south Kashmir Pahalgam route has been suspended because of bad weather. No pilgrim was allowed to proceed towards the Valley from Jammu on Friday because of heavy rains along the Jammu-Srinagar highway," a police officer told IANS.

"Over 70,000 pilgrims had ‘darshan’ at the cave shrine in the first three days. The pilgrim rush on the two tracks has also forced us to suspend the yatra," he added.

"We will allow the pilgrims to proceed towards the cave shrine if the weather permits later today (Friday). But, we will take a decision only after the sky clears."

The two month long annual pilgrimage began Wednesday. Over 200,000 pilgrims from various states have registered for this year's pilgrimage to pay obeisance before a naturally made Shivlingam at a height of 3,888 metres above sea level.

As n the 3 died due to cardiac arrests. Yesterday, 2 people died in a stampede near the holy caves. Though shrine authorities attributed one death to natural reasons. There has been a heavy inflow of pilgrims to Amarnath, nearly 30 thousand pilgrims a day for the 2-month-long yatra.