This year’s annual Amarnath Yatra concluded a week earlier than planned, with 4.14 lakh pilgrims having paid their respects at the holy cave shrine in the south Kashmir Himalayas. This figure is lower than last year’s total of over 5.10 lakh pilgrims.
On the final day of the pilgrimage, Saturday, 6,497 individuals had darshan at the 3,800-meter-high shrine. This group included 4,586 males, 1,299 females, 62 children, 51 sadhus, five sadhvis, and 494 security force personnel.
The decision to suspend the yatra on Saturday, a week before its scheduled conclusion on August 9 (Raksha Bandhan), was made by authorities due to the necessity of “critical repair and maintenance works” on the tracks. These tracks sustained damage from recent heavy rainfall.
