The first batch of pilgrims left for the Budha Amarnath Yatra on Tuesday. The Yatra was flagged off by Divisional Commissioner Jammu Ramesh Kumar and ADGP Jammu Anand Jain from Yatra Niwas in Jammu.
The Uttarakhand government announced on Tuesday that they will be providing a 25 per cent discount on tickets for travel by helicopter service for pilgrims going to Shri Kedarnath Dham.
Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai said that during the past five years, there have been two terrorist attacks on pilgrims and 14 casualties were reported.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Tuesday said that pilgrims will be able to visit the Kedarnath temple via helicopter from Wednesday, August 7.
Several people have died in rain-related incidents since August 4 evening as heavy rains lashed different parts of Uttarakhand, while many pilgrims and tourists are trapped on the Sonprayag-Kedarnath road.
The shrine of the Shree Chandi Mata Mandir of Machail Paddar in Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir crossed the 50-thousand mark in number of pilgrims taking darshan in this year of the Shree Machail Mata Yatra on Sunday.
The Shri Badrinath - Kedarnath Temple Committee (BKTC) will be providing pilgrims with free accommodation facilities in all their rest houses in case of road blockage during monsoon season.
Despite disruptions due to bad weather conditions, pilgrims expressed satisfaction with the arrangements and hoped for better weather to complete their journey.
After 15 people lost their lives in the cloudburst and landslides along the Kedarnath Yatra route, teams from the National Disaster Response Force, the State Disaster Response Force, and the Indian Air Force started joint rescue and relief operations for the stranded pilgrims.
According to the Secretary, the rescue operation of the passengers stranded in the Kedarnath and Kedarnath route due to heavy rains on 31st July is going on a war footing.
As the search and rescue operation continued in the landslide-affected areas in Rudraprayag to rescue the pilgrims stranded in Kedarnath and adjoining areas, the National Disaster Response Force said on Saturday that they have evacuated around 7,000 people from different places.