Chanting Bum Bum Bholey, the first batch of 1,138 pilgrims from various places in the country, left Jammu for Pahalgam and Baltal for their onward journey to South Kashmir Himalayas on Friday morning.
The 48-day yatra, which will proceed to Amarnath shrine in South Kashmir Himalayas from Pahalgam and Baltal on Saturday, is beginning under the shadow of increased incidents of terrorist attacks in the Valley.
To review a situation and take stock of all the security bandobast, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is arriving the state on the two-day visit. He along with State Governor N N Vohra will also have Pratham (first) darshan of the ice lingam at the shrine on Tuesday.
“With an adequate number of security forces sent to the state by Central government, all security arrangements for smooth conduct of yatra have been put in place,’’ said Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh while flagging off the first batch of pilgrims at Bhagwati Nagar here. He was accompanied by Minister of State for Tourism Priya Sethi and BJP’s Lok Sabha member Jugal Kishore Sharma.
The 48-day yatra, which will proceed to Amarnath shrine in South Kashmir Himalayas from Pahalgam and Baltal on Saturday, is beginning under the shadow of increased incidents of terrorist attacks in the Valley.
To review a situation and take stock of all the security bandobast, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is arriving the state on the two-day visit. He along with State Governor N N Vohra will also have Pratham (first) darshan of the ice lingam at the shrine on Tuesday.
“With an adequate number of security forces sent to the state by Central government, all security arrangements for smooth conduct of yatra have been put in place,’’ said Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh while flagging off the first batch of pilgrims at Bhagwati Nagar here. He was accompanied by Minister of State for Tourism Priya Sethi and BJP’s Lok Sabha member Jugal Kishore Sharma.