Over 1200 devotees leave for Amarnath from Jammu

, Jul 1: The fifth batch of 1243

on Tuesday left for

from Jammu base camp amid tight security, police said.

The pilgrims comprising 839 men, 283 women, 20 children and 101 sadhus and sadhvis left in a cavalcade of 35 vehicles, including 28 buses and 7 light motor vehicles, from Bhagwati Nagar base camp in Jammu at around 0400 hours today for Amarnath, a police officer said.

Meanwhile, over 37,000 yatris in total have had the 'darshan' of the ice lingam at the holy cave shrine in South Kashmir Himalayas till this morning.

And, over 2500 pilgrims had 'darshan' today. The convoy for the yatra has

already crossed Chenani in Udhampur district on Jammu-Srinagar national highway towards base camp of Baltal in Kashmir valley. With today's batch, as many as 6,269 pilgrims have left Jammu for their onward journey to the cave shrine.

Despite heavy snowfall during the past winters and consequent implications, the number of yatris paying obeisance at the shrine has been steadily increasing with the commencement of the Yatra on June 28 from Baltal route.

Yesterday, 14,635 yatris paid obeisance, while on June 28 and June 29, 8899 and 11,182 yatris respectively had paid their obeisance, a spokesman said.

PTI