14-day Amarnath Yatra to start from July 21

The annual Amarnath Yatra, curtailed because of the coronavirus disease pandemic, will be held only for 14 days from July 21 this year, officials familiar with the matter said on Friday.

The pilgrimage to the 3,880metre-high holy cave shrine of Amarnath in the south Kashmir Himalayas will now be from the shorter Baltal route only, they added.

The decision was taken during a meeting held by Jammu and Kashmir lieutenant governor GC Murmu on Thursday night with chief secretary BVR Subrahmanyam, principal secretary to the lieutenant governor , Bipul Pathak, and director general of police Dilbagh Singh, according to the officials cited above, who requested anonymity.

“It was finalised that a 14-daylong yatra will be allowed from the shorter Baltal track from July 21 to August 3 in view of the Covid-19 pandemic, “one official said.

Thousands of pilgrims either take the traditional and longer 45km-long Pahalgam route or the shorter 14km-long Baltal route to Amarnath, one of Hinduism’s holiest shrines, every year.

The pilgrimage usually spans nearly a month-and-a-half and takes place during July and August.

The government decided in February on a 42-day pilgrimage to the holy cave shrine of the Hindu god, Shiva.

It was scheduled to begin from the twin tracks of Pahalgam in Anantnag district and Baltal in Ganderbal district on June 23 and end on August 3 on the day of Shravan Purnima (Raksha Bandhan).

Last year, the Amarnath Yatra was cut short following intelligence inputs of terror threats.