Click to play videoSrinagar: Devotees trekking towards the Amarnath shrine are seeing a new lease of faith with the formation of icy Shivalingam this year.
Even though there are usual inputs of militants trying to disrupt the pilgrimage, security forces say their presence will ensure pilgrims perform a safe journey.
More than four lakh pilgrims are expected to take the journey through the icy mountains to have a 'darshan' of the lingam believed to have existed for centuries.
Last year the Shivalingam melted before the first batch of pilgrims reached the cave at a height of 3800 metres. However, this time more than six-feet of icy lingam has been formed without any man-made tampering and the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board is taking no chances.
“The yatra will start on June 18 till about August 16 for nearly two-months. Holy cave has been already secured as our guards have reached there. We have installed a grill which is 53 feet long and nine feet tall so that no unauthorised person can go in and there is no tampering,” says CEO, SASB, Arun Kumar.
The Shrine board has taken a slew of strict measure like not allowing any batch of pilgrims to undergo the trek before the schedule and securing the sanctum sanctorum by installing tall iron grills to prevent people from getting close.
Though providing security to so many hills in snow-bound conditions is not an easy task, the army and paramilitary forces are being gradually deployed.
“We have inputs that militants may try to attack the pilgrimage but we are equal to the task of foiling any attempt,” says Lt Col AK Mathur.
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