Srinagar: With 16,061 pilgrims visiting the Amarnath cave for ‘darshan’ Thursday, so far the number of pilgrims who have paid obeisance at the cave shrine reached 1,62,569, officials said.
Those who had the darshan today included 12,701 males, 2,945 females, 236 children, 176 Sadhus and three Sadvis, they informed.
They also said that the Yatra has been going on smoothly since the commencement on July 01, with pilgrims enjoying the general facilities ensured by the government.
Meanwhile, a fresh batch of over 9,200 pilgrims, the largest so far, left the base camp in Jammu in the early hours of Thursday for the Amarnath shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas.
While 6,035 pilgrims left in a convoy of 194 vehicles for Pahalgam, another convoy of 112 vehicles carrying 3,206 pilgrims left for the Baltal base camp at 3.30 am.
With this, a total of 65,544 pilgrims have left the Jammu base camp for the Valley since June 30.
The 62-day annual pilgrimage to the 3,888-metre-high cave shrine commenced from the twin tracks of Pahalgam in Anantnag district and Baltal in Ganderbal district on July 1.
The Yatra is scheduled to conclude on August 31.
