Jammu Tawi, June 26: The token distribution for offline registration of the Amarnath pilgrims started here on Wednesday, as the authorities successfully conducted dry run of vehicles along the Jammu-Srinagar national highway ahead of the start of the annual pilgrimage later this week, officials said.
The 52-day pilgrimage to the 3,880 meter high holy cave shrine of Amarnath will commence from the twin tracks –traditional 48 km Nunwan-Pahalgam route in Anantnag and 14-km shorter but steep Baltal route in Ganderbal — on June 29.
The first batch of pilgrims will leave Bhagwati Nagar base camp in Jammu for the valley on June 28. Over 4.5 lakh pilgrims had paid their obeisance at the naturally formed ice-Shiva Lingam inside the cave shrine in Kashmir Himalayas last year.
