Srinagar: Amid religious chants, the Amarnath Yatra has kicked off on the morning of June 30.
Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha flagged off the first batch of Amarnath Yatris from Yatri Niwas Bhawan in Jammu. More than 3000 pilgrims began their journey for the Kashmir valley in the wee hours of June 30.
The pilgrimage, which lasts for 43 days, has commenced from the two base camps, 48-km Nunwan in south Kashmir's Anantnag and 14-km shorter Baltal in central Kashmir's Ganderbal district.
Several political and religious leaders, including the likes of Jammu Mayor Chander Mohan Gupta, BJP leader Devender Rana and Chief Secretary Arun Kumar Mehta, were present at the time of the flagging-off ceremony.
Notably, the pilgrimage was not conducted in the last two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic and it has resumed after a gap of two years.
According to the guidelines issued by the Jammu and Kashmir government, it has been made compulsory for the pilgrims to produce their Aadhaar cards.
Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir Police and administration have beefed up security amid terror threats that loom large.
Tight security has been put in place on Jammu Srinagar National Highway in the Udhampur district. The bike squad commandos of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) are escorting the yatris so as to provide them with an additional layer of security.
The defence personnel are carrying out strict vigilance along the India-Pakistan international border and Line of Control (LoC) in order to prevent cross-border infiltration.
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