J&K LG Manoj Sinha has flagged off the first batch of Amarnath Yatra pilgrims from Bhagwati Nagar base camp in Jammu city. Pilgrims will first reach the Pahalgam and Baltal base camps in Kashmir from where they will begin their 43-day pilgrimage to the cave shrine.
The yatra will come to an end on 11 August. LG was accompanied by various political leaders and officials including Jammu Mayor Chander Mohan Gupta, Chief Secretary Dr Arun Kumar Mehta and BJP leader Devender Rana.
As the starting date for Amarnath Yatra is inching closer, Jammu and Kashmir administration has put in place high-level security for safety of pilgrims. Security arrangements have been specially strengthened in Kashmir valley to ensure that yatra is conducted peacefully.
The whole yatra route, including the mountains in central and southern Kashmir, will be under three tiers of protection. High ranking security officials have been holding meetings for the past week to ensure the safety of pilgrims in yatra. Government officials are expecting around seven to eight lakh pilgrims from across the nation to visit the sacred cave. More than three lakh pilgrims have already registered for the yatra.
Vijay Kumar, Inspector-General of Police, Kashmir, paid a visit to the holy cave and the yatri camp, Panjtarni on Tuesday to inspect the level of security arrangements. A police spokesperson told that the IGP participated in a security review meeting with officers from the army, CRPF, BSF, ITBP, JKP, NDRF and the civil administration. After that, the IGP also assessed the force deployment and gave instructions for improved coordination and teamwork to facilitate a seamless and incident-free yatra.
One day before, on Monday, he was also present at the final joint security review meeting attended by top police officers as well as the senior army officers in Anantnag. The IGP underscored the need to improve the intelligence grid in order to counter the direct threat posed by terrorists. The J&K police spokesperson stated that he discussed potential threats for the yatra and highlighted the need for the setting up of an efficient security grid. Officials specially discussed a district-by-district security review and took stock of the preparations made for the yatra. A special focus was given on the four south Kashmiri districts of Kulgam, Shopian, Pulwama, and Anantnag.
Police spokesperson said that senior Army and other security force officers also gave a thorough presentation and shared their ideas and recommendations for improving the overall security grid and giving the yatris foolproof security support on their journeys to and from Amarnath.
According to the spokesman, the IGP also stressed the need for various checking posts to be set up in order to prevent chaos by preventing unregistered yatris from reaching base camp. Security agencies have boosted the number of troopers engaged for the security of the yatra than in earlier periods. The yatra, which is taking place after two years, is set to commence on June 30.
