J&K administration conducts trial run to check security preparedness for Amarnath Yatra

Udhampur/Jammu, Jun 28 (PTI) Two days ahead of the start of the annual Amarnath Yatra, a trial run was conducted on Wednesday from Jammu to Banihal for a thorough inspection of security and other arrangements to ensure a safe pilgrimage for the devotees.

Leading a convoy of security vehicles, Additional Director General of Police Mukesh Singh, accompanied by senior officers, conducted the trial run along the Jammu-Srinagar national highway.

Senior civil and police officers in charge of the Jammu division examined all arrangements made by Jammu, Udhampur, and Ramban district administrations for the pilgrimage.

“The trial run was conducted by the security establishment from Jammu to Banihal on the highway for a thorough inspection of security and other arrangements”, an officer said.

The 62-day-long pilgrimage to the cave shrine in the south Kashmir Himalayas will commence on July 1 and conclude on August 31. Pilgrims will embark on the yatra via two routes — the traditional 48-kilometre Nunwan route, in south Kashmir’s Pahalgam, and the shorter 14-kilometre Baltal route in central Kashmir’s Ganderbal.

The first batch of pilgrims will depart from the Bhagwati Nagar base camp in Jammu on June 30. They will travel on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway before reaching their designated base camps in Pahalgam and Baltal.

To ensure the utmost convenience of the pilgrims, the administration has planned that transit camps would accommodate the devotees in the event of inclement weather necessitating the closure of the highway, officials said, adding steps have been taken to ensure landslide debris are cleared promptly expediting the reopening of the highway.