Amarnath Yatra temporary suspended from Baltal, Pahalgam routes amid rainfall

Srinagar: Amarnath Yatra was suspended temporarily from both Pahalgam and Baltal routes on Thursday as a precautionary measure due to inclement weather, officials said.

They said no fresh batch of yatris was allowed to proceed from the traditional Nunwan Pahalgam base camp and shortest Baltal via Dumail on Thursday due to inclement weather conditions.

“It was still raining at Pahalgam and Baltal route”, they said and added “as the weather shows improvement the decision to restore the yatra would accordingly be taken up”.

As many as 1, 53, 863 pilgrims had paid obeisance at the holy cave shrine of Amarnath till early Thursday.

Director Meteorological Centre Srinagar Sonum Lotus said light to moderate intermittent rainfall can occur at Baltal and Pahalgam route of Amarnath cave today.

He said the weather will remain cloudy and light to moderate intermittent, with short spells of rainfall may also occur till tomorrow. He said the weather will improve from the afternoon of July 16.

He said we are monitoring the weather 24x7 and there seems to be less chances of heavy rainfall. However, he said in view of the monsoon weather system changes suddenly and can cause heavy rainfall which is a very challenging job to predict.

Lotus said, “to predict weather during the monsoon season compared to winter is a little bit difficult and challenging job”.

In reply to a question, he said, “sometimes sudden developments appear in the weather system that causes heavy rainfall and cloudburst which is a very difficult and challenging job to predict”.

He advised yatris to take appropriate measures for the safety and update with the weather system as it can anytime change as Amarnath track is hilly terrain nature.

A huge cloudburst on July 8 occurred near the Cave Shrine which left 16 people dead and 35 injured besides it also washed away a major portion of track, forcing authorities to suspend the yatra for several days. (UNI)