Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Sunday announced that the Amarnath Yatra will commence from June 30.
The annual pilgrimage to the shrine of Amarnath in Jammu and Kashmir has been suspended twice in wake of the coronavirus pandemic since 2020.
The decision to resume the Yatra was taken at a meeting of the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board chaired by Sinha.
“We [Shrine Board] had an in-depth discussion on various issues also on [the] upcoming Yatra,” Sinha’s office said in a tweet. “The 43-day holy pilgrimage will commence on June 30 with all Covid protocols in place and culminate, as per the tradition, on the day of Raksha Bandhan.”
In 2019, the Amarnath Yatra was cancelled midway ahead of the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir by the Central government, according to PTI. Following the abrogation, the erstwhile state was split into the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
In 2020 and 2021, the yatra was cancelled due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. The annual pilgrimage was then held in a symbolic manner with both the morning and evening aarti’s being live-streamed on the board’s official website.
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