Ponywalla killed,another hurt enroute Kashmir's Amarnath cave

Srinagar, June 26 (UNI) A ponywalla was killed and another critically wounded due to shooting stones enroute the holy cave shrine of Amarnath from shorter Baltal track today, police said.

Habibullah Bhat, a resident of Warpush in Ganderbal district, was killed while Abdul Hakim sustained serious injuries due to shooting stones at Rail Pathri enroute the holy cave shrine from Baltal.

Subject to weather conditions, the two-month-long annual Amarnath pilgrimage would officially commence on Vrat Purnima from June 30 to conclude on Shravan Purnima, the Raksha Bandhan day, on August 28.

Yesterday, a 14-year-old daughter of a senior Army officer was killed after she fell down from a horse on way to Amarnath cave.

Chitra Mohindra, daughter of Colonel Davinder Kumar and a resident of Delhi, at present staying at Awantipora in south Kashmir, was on way to the holy cave shrine when she fell down from the horse at Bararimarg on the Baltal-holy cave shrine route.

She was critically wounded after her head hit a stone. Chitra died before she could be shifted to a base hospital at Baltal.

According to sources, about 2000 pilgrims visit the holy cave shrine ever day from shorter Baltal and traditional Pahalgam routes ahead of the official scheduled date of commencement of pilgrimage.

The rush of pilgrims has witnessed a sharp increase during the past few days, they added.

UNI