Jammu. A new batch of more than 7,500 pilgrims for the Amarnath Cave Temple located at an altitude of 3,880 meters in the Himalayan region of South Kashmir left from Jammu late on Tuesday night. The number of pilgrims visiting the cave temple has crossed one lakh. The 38 -day pilgrimage started on July 3 by two routes of the valley. The first route is the 48 km long traditional Nunwan-Pahalgam road in Anantnag district and the second route is a small but more steep climbing Baltal route in Ganderbal district. The journey will end on 9 August.
Travel continues in the protection of CRPF and police personnel
Officials said that the eighth batch of 7,579 pilgrims, including 5,719 men, 1,577 women and 40 children, in the security of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and police personnel, rode in 318 vehicles from Bhagwati Nagar base camp between 3:25 am to 3.40 am and left for both base camps in 318 vehicles from Bhagwati Nagar base camp.
He said that the first convoy of pilgrims left for Baltal Marg in Ganderbal district with 3,031 pilgrims in 142 vehicles, after which the second batch of 4,548 pilgrims in 176 vehicles is traveling by Pahalgam route.
3.5 lakh online registration so far
Lt. Governor Manoj Sinha flagged off the first batch of pilgrims for the Amarnath cave on July 2. Jammu has a festival -like atmosphere and a large number of pilgrims are being seen in markets, community cooks and housing centers. So far, more than 3.5 lakh people have registered online for pilgrimage. 34 housing centers have been set up in Jammu and the ‘Radio Frequency Identification or RFID) tags are being released to pilgrims.
More than 100 housing centers established
12 counters have been set up for registration on the spot. He informed that food and housing have been arranged for more than 50,000 people at various housing centers in Jammu region from Lakhanpur to Banihal. He informed that more than 100 housing centers have been set up for this purpose.
A senior police official said a total of 180 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) have been deployed for the protection of pilgrims, which are 30 more than previous years.
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