Amarnath Yatra halted on Baltal route

Srinagar, July 21: The movement of pilgrims to the Baltal base camp, one of the two base camps of the annual Hindu pilgrimage Amarnath Yatra in Jammu and Kashmir, was on Tuesday stopped due to landslides.

"Due to landslide debris at Razin and Kulan on the Srinagar-Leh highway that leads to the Baltal base camp, the onward movement of yatra has been stopped," a police officer said.

He said movement will be allowed once the road is cleared.

Multiple cloudbursts had hit Kulan, Razin, Gagangir and Sonamarg villages last week causing disruption of the Srinagar-Leh highway for three days and resulting in the death of three people.

The yarta continued smoothly via the second route, namely the Pahalgam route in south Kashmir.

So far, over 340,000 pilgrims have performed the Yatra that started on July 2 and will conclude on August 29.

IANS