Amid ‘Bam Bam Bhole’ chants, first batch of Amarnath pilgrims leave from Jammu

Jammu, Jun 27 (KMW): Amid the chants of ”Bam Bam Bhole”, the first batch of over 1000 pilgrims today left for the Holy Amarnath cave shrine in South Kashmir from the Yatri Niwas—the base camp for the pilgrims at Bhagwati Nagar—here in this winter capital of the state.

The first batch of pilgrims was flagged off by the Jammu and Kashmir minister for tourism G A Mir this morning at 0530 hrs amid tight security arrangements.

”A batch of 1160 pilgrims comprising 957 males, 187 females and 16 children and no Sadhu on board left for the yatra in a convoy of 42 vehicles including 23 buses and 19 Light Motor Vehicles,” an official here said.