Date: June 18th 2008

Date: 18.6.08

Pioneer News Service | Jammu

Dancing to the tunes of drum beats and chanting Bol Bum, the first batch of Amarnath-bound pilgrims was flagged off amid tight security arrangements by Education Minister GS Charak from Jammu base camp on Tuesday morning.

This year the pilgrims are happy as the naturally formed ice lingam is about 12 feet high.

The first darshan would be performed on June 18 subject to fair weather, marking the opening of two- month-long annual pilgrimage to the holy cave shrine of Lord Shiva, situated at a height of 13500 ft in South Kashmir.

The pilgrims, singing chants of Lord Shiva and his consort Mata Parvati, climbed atop tourist buses to begin their holy trek from Jammu early Tuesday morning. Before the yatra was flagged off by the Congress Minister Gulchain Singh Charak, large number of devotees were seen making calls to their relatives informing them about the start of their yatra schedule. Shyam Lal was standing tall in front of the tourist bus guiding his fellow passengers to climb the bus.Shyam Lal is undertaking the pilgrimage for the last one decade and is the guiding force behind the group of elderly couples from Himanchal Pradesh.

Unprecendented security arrangments were made by the State Government at the base camp to prevent any militant strike.

Official sources said at least 50 companies of paramilitary forces were deployed along the route of the yatra and on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway to ensure incident free yatra. The Army jawans were positioned along the highway to sanitise the road in the form of road opening parties.Besides this, separate security check points and nakas have been raised in and around the Jammu base camp to prevent entry of any anti national close to t he base camp.

On day one around 2800 pilgrims were flagged off in over 70 light and heavy motor vehicles under tight security arrnagments, GS Charak said after the flagging off ceremony. He said the Amarnath shrine board is assisted by the state government in extending all facilities to the pilgrims. He said security is the biggest concern of the Government and adequate number of security personnel have been deployed to ensure incident free yatra.