After remaining suspended for two consecutive days the Amarnath Yatra resumed from the Chandanwari route on Monday while a fresh batch of over 3,000 pilgrims were dispatched from the Jammu yatri niwas for an onward journey to perform pilgrimage.
On the other hand, the jawans belonging to the engineering regiment of the Indian army remained deployed on ground zero to create an alternate route linking the cave shrine after the previous one washed away during incessant rains in the cave shrine area on Friday. A total number of 16 pilgrims lost their lives in the tragedy while search for the missing ones continued without much success.
In a written statement a Srinagar based Defence Spokesman Col Emron Musavi said, "Specialised mountain and avalanche rescue teams have been continuously working to find any possible signs of life in the snow bridge near the cave complex. After the decision was taken to resume the Amarnath Yatra from 11 July, there was an immediate need to create a different route to the holy cave for the yatris away from the water channel".
He said the Army immediately set to task and worked overnight to clear the area and prepare an alternative route, carrying out ground leveling and preparing stairs using sandbags.
During the last two days, jawans of the Indian army supported by the teams of NDRF, SDRF, BSF, ITBP,CRPF Mountain Rescue Teams of Jammu and Kashmir police shifted the pilgrims to safer locations. IAF also chipped in with timely evacuation of injured pilgrims to different base hospitals and rushed essential supplies and engineering stores to facilitate different teams working on ground zero.
Earlier,Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha also visited Chandanwari to take stock of facilities and arrangements for Shri Amarnathji pilgrims.The Lt Governor also interacted with doctors, sanitation workers, volunteers, and people running community kitchens there.
The Lt Governor also took a round of the DRDO hospital there and inspected the facilities.