The ongoing Amarnath Yatra has been halted for a day on Thursday due to track damage caused by heavy rainfall in the area over the past two days. The administration said that the Yatra has been suspended from both the Pahalgam and Baltal base camps.
“Heavy continuous rains over the last two days have necessitated restoration work to be carried out on tracks along both the routes,” Divisional Commissioner Kashmir Vijay Kumar Bidhuri said.
The Border Roads Organisation has deployed personnel and machinery on the tracks to complete the work before new groups are allowed to proceed from the two base camps on Friday.
“Due to the continuous rains over the last couple of days, urgent repair and maintenance works are required to be carried out on the tracks. Therefore, it has been decided that no movement shall be allowed towards the Holy Cave from the two base camps today,” Bidhuri said. “However, yatris who stayed at Panjtarni camp during the preceding night are being allowed to proceed down to Baltal under adequate deployment of BRO and Mountain Rescue Teams,” he added.
Bidhuri stated that the yatra “shall resume” in all likelihood on Friday, subject to weather conditions.
Meanwhile, over 2.47 lakh pilgrims have paid obeisance at the cave shrine since this year’s pilgrimage began on July 3.
