Jammu: The second batch of 4416 Amarnath Yatris left Bhagwati Nagar base camp in Jammu district for their destinations to Nunwan and Baltal on Saturday. The convoy of yatris left Jammu amid heightened security arrangements.
These yatris left the base camp in a cavalcade of 188 vehicles in which 1683 yatris left for Baltal and 2733 for Nunwan camps.
The total number of yatris who left for the Amarnath shrine cave from Jammu’s base camp in two days reached 7904.
Meanwhile, the authorities received a huge rush of yatris from across the country at Lakhanpur – the gateway to Jammu and Kashmir.
“In two days, we have registered 5100 yatris at Lakhanpur. The numbers are much higher than last year’s yatra figures in Kathua which was 35,000 for the entire yatra,” Deputy Commissioner, Kathua, Rakesh Minhas told Greater Kashmir.
He said that they had established six counters for the registration of yatris, which were witnessing a heavy rush.
Minhas said that the administration had established over 358 separate toilets for men and women, and 305 washrooms across the district.
“Over 100 volunteers have been actively providing help to the yatris,” he said.
“Similarly, the facilities in the boarding and lodging centers have been improved in Kathua, which can now accommodate up to 7500 yatris for a 24-hour stay.
Last year, this facility could accommodate up to 4000 yatris,” Minhas said.
He said that the administration had increased the registration counters, accommodation, food counters, community kitchens, and medical care facilities.
“All the petrol pumps and dabas on the Jammu-Pathankot highway in Kathua have been providing free washroom facilities to the yatris. At least eight community kitchens are functional round the clock in Kathua district including two in Lakhanpur,” Minhas said.
He said that they had made elaborate security arrangements with the Army, BSF, CISF, CRPF, and district Police.
“We have established a control room that works 24×7 for the yatris and installed 52 CCTVs on the highway for the safety and security of the yatris in Kathua,” the DC Kathua said.
Referring to the fake registration, he said that they had detected around 66 fake registrations in Kathua district in the last two days.
“We have lodged an FIR. However, we are not troubling the yatris. We are helping them in getting fresh registration, preferably on the same date for darshan at the cave shrine. Besides, we have lodged FIR against two tour and travel agencies in Delhi,” Minhas said.
Earlier, DIG Shakti Pathak visited Kathua and reviewed the security situation during a meeting with the Police Department.
Speaking to media persons, Pathak said that the Police lodged three FIRs against the accused persons who provided fake registration to the Amarnath yatris.
He said that the FIRs had been registered at Samba, Kathua, and Jammu regarding the detection of fake registration.
The DIG said that he had taken review of the security situation to avoid any untoward incident or anti-national activity.
“The yatris are getting all the facilities in the protected areas,” he said.
So far, the authorities have detected 434 fake registrations in three districts of Jammu region in the last two days.
On Friday, the authorities in Jammu detected 300 fake registration permits while 68 fake permits were detected at Chichi Mata Mandir in Samba district and 66 in Kathua district.
In all these cases, FIRs have been lodged at the respective police stations, and police teams in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and other areas have also been alarmed to arrest the tour and travel agency people who provided these fake permits and registrations to the yatris coming to J&K for Amarnath Yatra.