New travel norms for Amarnath pilgrims by admin over security

As hundreds of devotees wishing to visit the Amarnath cave-shrine in Kashmir Himalayan have after skipping mandatory preregistration entered the Valley in the guise of tourists over the past couple of days, the authorities on Friday set a fresh cut-off time for the pilgrims’ travel “on security reasons”.

The officials here said that the pilgrims and tourists have been barred from crossing over to the Valley from Banihal area of the Ramban district after 3.30 pm, the new cutoff time, due to security concerns. They said that the move has been necessitated by increasing unauthorised entry of pilgrims in the guise of tourists as the same is causing security problems in view of the “threats of terrorism and militancy in Kashmir”. Confirming it, SP (Ramban), Mohita Sharma, told reporters that unregistered pilgrims travelling without RIFD (radio-frequency identification) and those wanting to visit Amarnath caveshrine in the guise of tourists will not be allowed to move towards Kashmir from the Navyug tunnel which connects the Jammu region with the Valley in the Banihal area after the cut-off time of 3.30 pm.

She said that, for security reasons, the vehicles carrying the Amarnath pilgrims will not be allowed towards Kashmir after 1.30 pm at Chandrakot which is at a distance of 109 kilometres from winter capital Jammu and after 3.30 pm from Banihal (tunnel), the gateway to the Valley. Those pilgrims reaching Chandrakot after the cutoff time will be accommodated at a Yatri Niwas for the night and allowed to move towards the Valley next morning, she added.

The officials said that trucks carrying supplies to the Valley and other local traffic will be allowed to ply as usual.