Srinagar

The Mayor of Sringar, Junaid Ahmed Mattu received the first batch of Shri Amarnath Yatra pilgrims on their arrival in Srinagar.

He was accompanied by PRI/ULB representatives, senior officers from the Administration and J&K Police and prominent citizens. He interacted with devotees and wished them a safe and spiritually fulfilling Yatra.

The annual Amarnath Yatra scheduled to start on June 30, is resuming after a break of two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 43- day pilgrimage is expected to witness large participation of devotees who have started arriving in Jammu in advance from different parts of the country.

Jammu & Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha sent off the first batch of Amarnath Yatra pilgrims from Jammu base camp, early on Wednesday morning.

The Amarnath shrine pilgrimage to the 3,880-metre-high cave shrine of Lord Shiva, located in the upper reaches of the Himalayas, is held from the twin routes of Pahalgam in south Kashmir and Baltal in central Kashmir. Security along both the routes has been strengthened.

Last week, the J&K Lieutenant Governor reviewed the overall security arrangements for the pilgrimage in a unified command meeting in Srinagar. The meeting was attended by Chief Secretary and senior security officers from the Home Department, Jammu and Kashmir Police, Indian Army, Intelligence agencies, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF), and others.