While political parties and environmentalists have been seeking for long that the Amarnath Yatra duration be reduced from the current two months, this year the weather may ensure just that.

It is snowing in the south Kashmir Himalayas, which may force the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board to cut the duration to the pre-2004 period of one month.

While the first batch of pilgrims left Jammu for the Valley on Monday, seeing the bad weather and snowfall in the mountainous areas, the movement of the second batch scheduled for Tuesday has been suspended.

Even if the first batch of 5,000 pilgrims is allowed to proceed to Amarnath from the Baltal side, there is no word from the board or the state Government on the traditional route from Pahalgam. The pilgrims who had reached Pahalgam over the past three days have been diverted to Baltal.

There is 6-10 ft snow at various places along the 45-km Yatra track between Pahalgam and the Amarnath shrine, especially the Pisu Top and Mahagunus Top, said Block Development Officer G M Jalali, the Yatra officer at Pahalgam.

Though there is heavy snow on the Baltal side as well, it is easy to launch rescue operations in this area in case of an emergency in view of the Yatra route being only 10 km long.

“Though all logistics for a smooth Yatra are in place, we cannot risk the lives of pilgrims, especially women and children, in view of the weather playing truant,” Jalali said, adding that it had been raining off and on for the past 20 days.

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