Amarnath Yatra registration to begin from March 1

This year's yatra shall commence simultaneously on both the routes from June 29 and culminate on Raksha Bandhan on August 7.

Jammu, Feb 25: The registration for the annual Amarnath yatra through both Baltal and Chandanwari routes will commence on March 1, an official spokesman said on Saturday.

The registration will be done through 433 designated branches of Punjab National Bank, Jammu and Kashmir Bank and YES Bank located in various States of the country, he said. This year's yatra shall commence simultaneously on both the routes from June 29 and culminate on Raksha Bandhan on August 7.

The procedure which the pilgrims need to follow to register for the yatra has been put on the Board's website, said P K Tripathi, Chief Executive Officer, Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB). The website also contains an application form and state-wise list of Bank Branches which the people can visit for registering themselves for this year's pilgrimage.

Tripathi said that the pilgrims shall have to furnish a Compulsory Health Certificate (CHC) while registering. The format of the CHC and the State-wise list of doctors and medical institutes authorised to issue CHCs has been put on the website of the Shrine Board to ensure authenticity.

For this year's pilgrimage, only those health certificates which have been issued after February 10 will be considered as valid. Persons under the age of 13 years or above the age of 75 years and women who are more than six weeks pregnant will not be registered for yatra, Tripathi said.

He said in order to ensure effective security arrangements along the difficult tracks, only those pilgrims who are in possession of a Yatra Permit which is valid for a specified date and route shall be allowed to proceed beyond the base camps and cross the entry gates at Domel and Chandanwari.

Those who plan to travel by helicopter do not require advance registration as their chopper ticket shall suffice for this purpose, he said. However, they will have to produce the CHC in the prescribed format before they are allowed to travel, he added.

PTI