Jammu:
The Amarnath yatra is proceeding smoothly and there is a huge rush of pilgrims for a 'darshan' at the 3,888 metre-high cave shrine, a senior Jammu and Kashmir minister said on Friday.
"The pilgrimage is going on smoothly on both the routes of Pahalgam and Baltal to the shrine. There is no fear among pilgrims. They have high level of confidence," Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand told PTI.
Chand, who led a group of ministers to Pahalgam and Baltal base camps in the Kashmir valley to build confidence among the pilgrims, said, "There is a huge rush at the cave shrine of Lord Shiva. Over 13,000 pilgrims have had their darshan till now.
"We interacted with pilgrims at Pahalgam, Baltal base camps in the Kashmir Valley as well as those enroute and they expressed satisfaction over boarding, lodging and community kitchen arrangements made at these places," he said.
Chand, along with Congress ministers Raman Bhalla and R S Chib, also interacted with local Muslims, who, he said, were willing to provide all facilities to the pilgrims.
He said the local people had described the Amarnath yatra as part of Kashmir culture. The pilgrims also expressed satisfaction over the security arrangements made by the authorities at the two base camps as well as along the routes from Jammu to Pahalgam and Baltal, the deputy chief minister said.
Two batches consisting of 4,517 pilgrims have reached the two base camps without any difficult or security problem during the past two days from Jammu and a third batch of 3,217 pilgrims was on its way here, Chand added.