Jammu, June 29: Amid tight security arrangements and heightened tension in South Kashmir, the first batch of annual Amarnath Yatra will leave for Pahalgam and Baltal base camps from here on Wednesday morning.
 Official sources said that senior civil and police officers, held two hours long meeting to review the yatra arrangements especially in view of the prevailing situation in South Kashmir, which the Hill Shrine, beside yatra route and base camps, is situated.
 “The yatra will commence as per the schedule and we have taken appropriate security measures”, a senior government official told Greater Kashmir, immediately after the meeting.
 He said that all the aspects have been discussed in the meeting and it was unanimously decided that the pilgrimage shall commence as per the schedule.
 The first batch of yatries, mostly comprising Sadhus, will leave from Jammu at 5 AM, tomorrow morning, he said adding, paramilitary personnel and police will guard the convoy upto the base camps.
 The first batch, which would have a night halt at Pahalgam and Baltal base camps, would leave for the cave shrine on July 1, when the pilgrimage commences officially.
 Around 1.80 lakh pilgrims have registered themselves for the pilgrimage through the 121 designated branches of the J&K Bank across the country.
 It was reliably leant that CRPF, which is responsible for the security of Jammu-Srinagar highway, has been asked to intensify vigil and ensure safety of the pilgrims at all cost.
 “We have also taken special security measures to ensure the fool proof security arrangements along Lakhanpur-Jammu highway keeping in view recent infiltration attempts from the International Border”, Dy Inspector General Jammu-Kathua Range Farooq Khan said. He added that a blanket of three grid security arrangement has been thrown along the highway to avoid any untoward incident.
 Divisional Commissioner Pawan Kotwal said that the pilgrimage will officially commence from July 1, when first batch of pilgrims will leave from base camps. “We would however review the weather condition on daily basis so that the yatries may not face any problem enroute to the cave shrine”, he added.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 29 Jun 2010 21:30:00 Mecca time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 29 Jun 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 30 Jun 2010 00:00:00 IST