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Amarnath Yatra resumes

The fourth batch comprising 4,974 men, 812 women, 62 children and 383 sadhus left in 454 vehicles from M A M Stadium, the base camp of the pilgrims.

The sources said about 20,000 people had visited the cave shrine and taken darshan (a view) of the ice lingam that forms naturally there.

They said 13,666 pilgrims had offered prayers to Lord Shiva at the cave till Monday. In addition, 6,288 security personnel had visited the shrine.

The pilgrimage, which started on July 19, was stopped temporarily on Sunday and suspended for a day on Monday evening following heavy rains coupled with snow at several places ahead of Pahalgam and Baltal, the two traditional routes to the cave.

The decision to resume the yatra was taken after the tracks to the cave became worthy of traffic once again, the sources said.

The road blockade near Ramban, 155km from Jammu, caused by landslides on Monday was also cleared in the night.

Another reason for allowing the pilgrimage to proceed was to reduce the number of stranded pilgrims, which had swelled to 15,000 by Monday evening.

Tuesday's batch included registered pilgrims of July 22, they said, adding that on an average a maximum of 3,500 pilgrims are allowed to proceed daily.

Meanwhile, officials were trying to accommodate the stranded pilgrims in different government schools.

PTI

EARLIER REPORTS:
Amarnath Yatra suspended for 2-3 days
First batch of pilgrims performs puja at Amarnath

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