‘Registrations for Amarnath Yatra cross 3 lakh mark’

SRINAGAR: Over three lakh pilgrims have till now registered for the 62-day Amarnath Yatra -- the longest ever, the shrine board said here on Wednesday. The number of registrations so far is 10 per cent more than last year, CEO of Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) Mandeep Kumar Bhandari said. The shrine board and the union territory administration are ready to welcome the yatris, he said. The annual pilgrimage to the 3,880-metre-high holy cave shrine of Amarnath in the south Kashmir Himalayas is scheduled to start on July 1. The first batch of pilgrims are leaving for the Valley from Jammu's Bhagwati Nagar base camp on June 30. “The Yatra will commence on July 1 and will last till August 31. This year's pilgrimage will be of 62 days and will be the longest ever so far,” Bhandari said. So far, over three lakh pilgrims have registered with the board via different modes of registration, he said, adding that yatris can perform the pilgrimage using two routes of Baltal and Chandanwari.