Amarnath Yatra 2017: Over 1,700 pilgrims leave from Jammu, CRPF escorts batch

Jammu: Another batch of 1,786 pilgrims on Tuesday left Jammu for the high-altitude Amarnath cave shrine of Lord Shiva in south Kashmir Himalayas. Escorted by the CRPF, the pilgrims comprising 1,485 men, 301 women left in 53 vehicles in a convoy for Baltal and Pahalgam base camps this morning, officials said. With Tuesday’s batch a total of 17,146 pilgrims and sadhus have left Jammu for Amarnath since the yatra began from Jammu on 28 June. As many as 15,813 pilgrims paid obeisance at the holy cave shrine on Monday and 62,608 pilgrims have done the same till date. [caption id=“attachment_916443” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Pilgrims headed to Amarnath. AFP.[/caption] Amid multi-tier security, the 40-days-long yatra began from Jammu as the first batch of pilgrims left for twin base-camps of the 3,888-metre high cave shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas on 28 June. The government has mobilised a heavy security blanket of over 35,000 to 40,000 troops including the police, the Army, the BSF and the CRPF for the yatra. This years yatra will be eight days shorter against the last years’ 48 days and it conclude on Shravan Purnima (Raksha Bandhan) on 7 August. Situated in a narrow gorge at the farther end of Lidder Valley, Amarnath shrine is 46 km from Pahalgam and 14 km from Baltal.