Amarnath Yatra From Jammu Halted as Highway Repair Work Continues
The Amarnath Yatra from the Jammu base camp remained suspended for the second consecutive day on Saturday as the strategic Jammu-Srinagar National Highway remained closed for traffic due to incessant rain and repair work, officials said.
No fresh batch of pilgrims was allowed to leave the Bhagwati Nagar base camp for the Kashmir Valley because of restoration work underway on the Ladha-Samroli stretch of the highway in Udhampur district, they added.
The 250-km National Highway (NH-44), the only all-weather road connecting the Kashmir Valley with the rest of the country, was shut on both sides on Friday shortly after the passage of the Amarnath Yatra convoy. The closure was initiated to repair damage caused by rain last week. However, fresh spells of rain have since disrupted operations, leaving the road surface slushy, muddy and extremely slippery.
Light to moderate rainfall was witnessed across parts of Ramban and Udhampur districts, complicating restoration efforts. The highway remained closed for the second consecutive day, affecting not only pilgrims but also civilian traffic between Jammu and Srinagar.
In a separate development, the Shri Amarnath Ji Shrine Board (SASB) shifted the Yatra registration and token distribution counters from the Tawi Riverfront to the Bhagwati Nagar base camp following a decline in the number of pilgrims arriving in Jammu. The Tawi Riverfront had been developed as a centralised mega-facility for offline registration, token distribution, e-KYC verification, and RFID issuance for Amarnath pilgrims.
With the pilgrim influx tapering off, the registration facilities have now been consolidated at the Bhagwati Nagar base camp, officials said. The move aims to streamline the process for the remaining period of the Yatra.
The annual Amarnath Yatra began on July 3, and since then, around 4.5 lakh devotees have visited the cave shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas, which houses the naturally formed ice lingam. The pilgrimage is scheduled to conclude on August 28, coinciding with Raksha Bandhan.
The suspension of the Yatra from Jammu has raised concerns among devotees who are waiting to undertake the journey. However, officials have assured that every effort is being made to restore the highway at the earliest, while maintaining safety standards. Pilgrims already in the Kashmir Valley are continuing their darshan as per schedule, officials confirmed.
The highway closure also highlighted the fragile nature of the only all-weather road link to Kashmir, which frequently faces disruption during the monsoon season due to landslides and heavy rainfall. The administration has been working to complete the repair work, but weather conditions remain a challenge.
