LG Manoj Sinha to flag off first Amarnath Yatra batch from Jammu on Thursday

JAMMU: Offline registration for the annual Amarnath Yatra commenced on Wednesday, with hundreds of devotees turning up at the designated centres a day before LG Manoj Sinha is scheduled to flag off the first batch of pilgrims from the Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas base camp here.

The 57-day pilgrimage to the 3,880-metre high Amarnath cave shrine is scheduled to begin on July 3 from the traditional 48-km Nunwan-Pahalgam route in Anantnag district, and the shorter but steeper 14-km Baltal route in Ganderbal district. Around four lakh pilgrims have already registered online for the Yatra.

The on-the-spot registration for token holders commenced on Wednesday, while token distribution continued for the second consecutive day for pilgrims reaching Jammu from different parts of the country. Counters for registration and token distribution have been set up on the Tawi riverfront near the Jammu artificial lake, Geeta Bhawan, Ram Mandir and Bhagwati Nagar. The first batch of pilgrims will be flagged off from the Bhagwati Nagar base camp early Thursday.