No fresh batch of pilgrims left the Bhagwati Nagar base camp in Jammu for the cave shrine of Amarnath in the south Kashmir Himalayas on Saturday, officials said amid a decline in the footfall of the devotees.
On August 2, Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha had appealed to the Amarnath pilgrims to visit the cave shrine before August 5 in view of a forecast of inclement weather and more rains.
The 43-day annual pilgrimage to the 3,880-metre-high cave shrine commenced on June 30 on the twin routes - the traditional 48-km Nunwan-Pahalgam route in Anantnag and the 14-km shorter Baltal route in Ganderbal. It is scheduled to end on August 11 on the occasion of "Shravan Purnima" coinciding with "Raksha Bandhan".