New Delhi: After a sharp decline in the arrival of pilgrims, the Amarnath yatra remained suspended from Bhagwati Nagar base camp for the second day on Sunday, news agency PTI reported. However, a fresh batch of 378 pilgrims left the base camp for the shrine of Buddha Amarnath in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said.
"The Amarnath yatra remained suspended from Jammu due to the non-availability of adequate number of pilgrims.... We might send one more batch before the culmination of the yatra, depending on the availability of pilgrims," PTI quoted an official as saying.
In the fresh batch that left the Bhagwati Nagar base camp on Sunday, there were 90 women and two children, the officials said, adding that the pilgrimage is progressing smoothly and thousands of devotees have so far visited the shrine, since the commencement of the yatra.
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Meanwhile, the officials said that the Bhagwati Nagar base camp has been wearing a deserted look for the last few days, prompting community kitchen operators to wind up their service.
Notably, the 43-day pilgrimage to the 3,880m high cave shrine started on June 30 from the twin routes -- the 48km Nunwan-Pahalgam route in Anantnag and the 14km shorter Baltal route in Ganderbal -- and is scheduled to end on August 11 on the occasion of "Shravan Purnima".
Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on August 2 appealed to the pilgrims to visit the shrine before August 5 in view of a forecast of inclement weather.
According to the PTI report, around three lakh pilgrims have visited the cave shrine, housing a naturally formed ice-shivling, this year.
Meanwhile, the 11-day Buddha Amarnath pilgrimage is scheduled to conclude on August 8, with the departure of "Chari Mubarak" from Shri Dashnami Akhara in Poonch district.