Defying restrictions by the Jammu and Kashmir Police that pilgrims can undertake the annual Amarnath yatra only within a security cordon, a large number of pilgrims are reaching the Baltal base camp on their own, without any security cover. The result: authorities have to deal with a large number of pilgrims — most of them unregistered — overcrowding at the Baltal base camp.

According to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) officials, of the 1.7 lakh registered pilgrims, not more than 67,000 have been able to undertake the yatra till date, thanks to the overflowing numbers.

“We stopped the yatra on Wednesday as the Baltal base camp was overcrowded,” said Deputy Commissioner of Jammu M K Bhandari. In fact, the number of unregistered pilgrims is far more than the registered ones. Officials said the number of pilgrims allowed from Jammu on a daily-basis is 1,500-2,000. However, 7,000-10,000 pilgrims reach the base camp on their own.

Every day, the base camp witnesses a backlog of nearly 4,000 pilgrims. “Our first priority is to clear the backlog of yatris. On Wednesday, we allowed nearly 8,000 yatris for the pilgrimage,” said A R Lone, yatra in-charge officer at Baltal camp.