How is the lingam formed?
The lingam is formed by a trickle of water falling from a small cleft in the cave’s roof. The water freezes as it drips slowly to form a tall, smooth cone of ice—the Shivlingam. It gets its full shape in May. Then it begins melting gradually and by August it is reduced to just a few feet in height. On the left side of the Shivlingam are two more ice stalagmites of Lord Ganesh and Parvati.

How did problems over the Yatra start?
n In 2000, the J-K State Legislative assembly passed Shri Amarnath Shrine Board Act, making the Governor the chairman of the board while his Principal Secretary became the Chief Executive Officer of the board. Till then the shrine was administered by Purohit Sabha, Mattan and Dashnami Akhara, Srinagar—two Hindu religious bodies.
In September 2003, the PDP led J-K Government took over the Muslim Auqaf Trust run by the National Conference and set up the J-K Muslim Waqf Board with the Chief Minister as its chairman. The government gave mismanagement as the reason but analysts saw a political angle in the issue as well: the PDP wanted to dislodge its arch rivals NC from the administration of the shrines and thus limit its influence.
In 2004, the J-K Government and Raj Bhavan locked horns on the issue of the duration of the Amarnath yatra. The Governor wanted the yatra to be extended to two months from the traditional month-long annual pilgrimage. The then Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed declined, citing an additional burden on security and the state machinery besides weather.
The issue threatened to assume a communal and regional dimension as four Congress ministers from Jammu resigned. Then Congress’s entire Jammu leadership along with BJP and other Hindu organisations openly came to Governor’s support. The crisis subsided only after the Centre intervened.
In March 2005, the then Forest Secretary Sonali Kumar issued orders for the transfer of 3642 kanals of forest land around the holy cave to the custody of the Shrine Board. The General Administration Department issued a show-cause notice to her, seeking explanation for violation of rules because the order didn’t adhere to the Forest Conservation Act and needed prior cabinet approval. Sonali Kumar is the wife of the Principal Secretary to Governor and CEO, Amarnath Shrine Board, Arun Kumar.
In 2005, the Shrine Board decided to bring in commercial helicopter service to ferry pilgrims to Amarnath. J-K Tourism Corporation insisted on using state helicopters but the Shrine Board termed it interference in its work and roped in private companies. The issue was settled in the High Court.
In 2005, Chief Minister Sayeed stayed away from a high-level security review meeting of Unified Headquarters called by visiting Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, which was a direct fallout of his power struggle with the Governor.
In 2007, a top PDP minister disallowed the Board from constructing a motorable road from Baltal to Amarnath, citing its disastrous environmental implications as the reason.
In 2008, the state Government rejected a report of an advisory committee which had recommended transfer of land in Baltal to the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board for construction of road and raising hutments at various points. Forest Minister and PDP leader Qazi Afzal, however, constituted a committee to look into the issue.

... contd.