Jammu:
Ahead of the annual Amarnath Yatra that begins on June 4, the Bajrang Dal on Thursday said it will send its team to the cave shrine on May 13 to assess the ground situation and take stock of preparatory measures.
"We will send a team of 100 activists of Bajrang Dal to Baltal base camp to assess the ground situation and state of route to cave shrine of Amarnath in South Kashmir Himalayas on May 13," Dal's regional Co-convener Nand Kishore Mishra said.
He said the team will camp at Baltal and undertake inspection of the route to the cave shrine, and take part in snow clearance operations to facilitate smooth commencement of the pilgrimage.
Mr Mishra criticised the Amarnath Shrine Board's decision to reduce the number of days of the Yatra citing climatic reasons and accused the board of "misleading" the devotees.
He said the board had reduced the number of days of the Yatra to 39 from 60 days in 2009, 55 days in 2010 and 45 days in 2011.
Terming the move as "anti-religious", Mr Mishra said the decision to reduce the number of days of Yatra to 39 this year will hurt the sentiments of the devotees.
Claiming that the board has no right to decide the date and period of the Yatra as it is matter of religious gurus, Mr Mishra said Bajrang Dal will protest any move to stop its team from carrying out Yatra to the cave shrine.