New Delhi: This year’s Amarnathji Yatra has been suspended from Sunday, nearly a week ahead of its scheduled end, due to adverse weather conditions and the poor condition of the tracks leading to the shrine.
The Yatra was to end on August 9, coinciding with the festival of Raksha Bandhan.
Authorities said that they were forced to temporarily suspend the Yatra three days ago due to heavy rainfall. On Saturday, officials announced that the Yatra would not resume from either of the two traditional routes, Baltal or Pahalgam, due to the unsafe condition of the tracks and the need for urgent repair work.
“The terrain has been severely affected by heavy rainfall, rendering the route unsafe for pilgrims. Both routes required immediate repair and maintenance, and continuing the Yatra while deploying men and machinery for those repairs is not feasible,” Vijay Kumar Bidhuri, divisional commissioner, Kashmir, said.
According to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board, nearly four lakh pilgrims managed to visit the revered cave shrine this year. The numbers had started to fall over the last week, possibly due to weather-related issues.
As it is, this year’s Yatra was held under the shadow of the gun in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack of April 22. The government deployed over 600 additional paramilitary companies in addition to existing forces, making it one of the most heavily guarded pilgrimages in the country.
Pilgrims were moved in tightly monitored convoys from Jammu to the twin base camps, and civilian movement was halted during convoy hours along the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway.
Authorities had also deployed advanced technology like face recognition systems along the route to prevent any incident.
