Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB) have said that this year’s Amarnath Yatra to the Himalayan cave shrine in Jammu and Kashmir will take place over the course of 15 days.

Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB) have said that this year’s Amarnath Yatra to the Himalayan cave shrine in Jammu and Kashmir will take place over the course of 15 days. The SASB is in charge of managing the Yatra to the shrine which is situated some four kilometres above the sea level at J&K’s Anantnag district.

According to the SASB, the Amarnath Yatra scheduled for 2020 will begin on July 21 and will end on August 3. The annual ‘Pratham Puja’ for the Yatra was held on June 5 at the shire. The SASB has cut short the duration of the yatra because of the corona virus pandemic.

Pilgrims above the age of 55, except Sadhus, won’t be allowed to take the Yatra. According to the SASB, this year all participants in the Yatra must possess a negative COVID-19 certificate or else they won’t be allowed to join the Yatra. The pilgrims will be cross-checked for the virus before they are allowed to undertake the Yatra on entry into J&K, an official of the SASB said.

This year it is compulsory for all participants, except Sadhus, to register themselves online for the Yatra. For the first time the ‘Aarti’ which is performed twice daily, once in the morning and once in the evening, will be broadcasted live for all devotees across the country for all the 15 days of the Yatra.

“No pilgrim will be allowed to undertake this year’s Yatra through the Pahalgam route”, officials said. All participants would be following the north Kashmir Baltal route for Amarnath Yatra 2020.

The non-availability of local laborers and the difficulties in maintaining the track from the base camp have led the officials to decide that the last leg of the Yatra would be performed by using helicopters from the Baltal base camp all the way to the Ganderbal district to the shrine.