Amarnath Yatra 2022: After two-year gap, registrations for annual pilgrimage open on this date

Registrations for the annual Amarnath Yatra will begin on April 11 after being suspended for two years following the outbreak of Covid-19. The pilgrimage will begin on June 30 and conclude on August 11.

Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board CEO Nitishwar Kumar told Asian News International that pilgrims would be able to register online through the shrine board’s app and website. With India slowly returning to normality following a sustained decline in new Covid-19 caseload additions, coupled with the two-year gap from the previous pilgrimage, the shrine board expects over three lakh pilgrims this year.

Kumar said registrations for the yatra will begin in 446 branches of Jammu & Kashmir Bank, Punjab National Bank, YES Bank, and 100 branches of State Bank of India across the country. With more than three people expected to arrive on the pilgrimage, the shrine board has set up a yatri niwas (rest house) that can accommodate 3,000 pilgrims in Ramban, he stated.

He added that pilgrims would be given RFID that can be tracked by the shrine board. The insurance coverage period for pony handlers has also been increased to a year, while coverage for pilgrims has gone up to Rs 5 lakh from Rs 3 lakh.

Hundreds of thousands of devotees trek through the Himalayan mountains to the Shri Amarnathji Shrine in south Kashmir each year to pay obeisance to Shiva, believed to be present in the form of an ice lingam. The shrine board prevents children below 13 and the elderly above 75 years from embarking on the pilgrimage because of the tough nature of the trek. Women who are more than six weeks pregnant are not allowed on the pilgrimage.

While the pandemic stopped the pilgrims from undertaking the pilgrimage in 2020 and 2021, the Centre suspended it a few days before its scheduled end in 2019 following the abrogation of Article 370.