Pilgrims wait for Amarnath Yatra to resume after cloudburst incident

The Amarnath yatra has been momentarily halted due to the cloudburst disaster. However, pilgrims are still waiting for it to resume at Baltal Base Camp.

Because the Amarnath route was destroyed and restoration work is still ongoing, it will take some time to rebuild the track and resume yatra.

Kundan Nayak, a devotee from Pune said, “We are waiting for the last two days here at the camp. My registration is for today but because of cloudburst yatra is stopped. This is a very unfortunate incident but we are hopeful that it will resume soon. We will wait here till the yatra resume. We will return back only after offering prayers.”

Ayush, a Punjabi youngster, stated that he will wait here to resume the yatra and will return home without seeing the Lord (prayer).

Another devotee, Dr. Devraj of Punjab’s Bhatinda, expressed confidence in the government that the yatra will continue shortly.

“Due to the cloudburst, the yatra has been temporarily suspended. We pray to Lord Shiva that the yatra resumes soon and we have trust in the administration that they will commence it as soon as possible. It is not possible to resume the yatra today but it may resume tomorrow. Some of the water pipes which broke is been fixed and repairing work is underway,” ANI qouted Dr Devraj as saying.

According to statistics from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) on Saturday, at least 16 persons were killed in a cloud burst near the holy temple of Amarnath.

Meanwhile, four Indian Air Force Mi-17V5 and four Cheetal helicopters were sent on Saturday for rescue and relief activities at the Amarnath temple.

The Cheetal helicopters made 45 flights, extracting 45 people from the sacred cave while bringing five NDRF and Army soldiers and 3.5 tonnes of humanitarian items.

Earlier, Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant-Governor Manoj Sinha presided over a high-level meeting to monitor the ongoing rescue and relief activities in Amarnath cave, authorities said.

During the meeting, a two-minute silence was observed to pay honour to devotees who died in the event.
An officer with the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) said on Saturday that the rescue operation in the Amarnath cloud burst event has been stepped up.

Meanwhile, Lieutenant General ADS Aujla, Commander of the Chinar Corps, arrived in the cloudburst-affected districts near the Amarnath cave.

On Friday, a cloudburst hit the Amarnath holy cave location, causing a massive discharge of water in the ‘Nallah’, which adjoins the holy cave.