Registrations for Amarnath yatra closed

Registrations for the Amarnath caves pilgrimage closed on Tuesday, 11 days ahead of the yatra's start.
 
Senior officials said the fixed quota of 1.07 lakh yatris has been exhausted and centers across the country have been directed to stop accepting registration requests.

The annual pilgrimage to the caves in the Himalayas begins July 12 and will conclude on Shravan Poornima, August 12.

An official spokesman said 84 branches of the Jammu and Kashmir Bank were entrusted with the registration of pilgrims.

The Jammu and Kashmir government has issued an statment warning that no unregistered person will be allowed to undertake the yatra.

The spokesman said that this year Punjab led with 17,405 registrations, followed by 15,777 from Delhi, 14,228 from Uttar Pradesh, 10,849 from Maharashtra and 10,128 from Gujarat.

As per the Nitish Sen Gupta committee recommendations, the state government is required to allow only 3,500 yatris to leave the base camp each day -- 2700 via Pahalgam and 800 from Baltal track.

Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed is personally monitoring the arrangements for the annual pilgrimage.