Kathua: Community kitchen provides free food and accommodation to Amarnath Yatra pilgrims

 Various social and religious organisations have set-up community kitchens called Bhandaras for pilgrims travelling to the Amarnath cave shrine in Jammu and Kashmir. One such facility, which is among the oldest on the pilgrimage route, set up by Baba Barfani Sewa Mandal in Kathua on the Jammu-Pathankot highway, was inaugurated on Sunday. According to the organisers of the community kitchen, the facility not only provides free food to pilgrims but also has arrangements for overnight stay and medical aid. Many pilgrims said, they were impressed with the arrangements made at the facility for them. The annual Amarnath Yatra began on Saturday as the first batch of pilgrims left the twin base camps in Baltal and Nunwan to start their journey to the cave shrine perched at a height of 3,880 metres in Anantnag district. Every year thousands of devotees from across the country visit the cave shrine to offer their prayers and seek blessings of the naturally formed ice lingam. The Amarnath Yatra will conclude on August 19th.