Jammu & Kashmir, June 29: Amarnath Yatra has been stalled for the past 36 hours due to heavy rains in Jammu & Kashmir. According to recent reports, the third batch of pilgrims, who left for the yatra has been asked to return to their base camp, as the Pahalgam route remains suspended due to bad weather and landslide. Over 2,876 pilgrims had left Bhagwati Nagar base camp in a fleet of 90 vehicles under tight security in the morning. But they have been asked to return from Chandanwari, which is at a distance of 15 km from Pahalgam.

The Baltal route was however resumed on Thursday due to improvement in the weather conditions. The MeT has forecast rain and thundershowers in the valley for the next 48 hours till Saturday. The Amarnath Yatra officially kick-started on Thursday, after batches of pilgrims started progressing to the camps. Security has been beefed up at Udhampur Railway Station to avoid any untoward incident during the annual Amarnath Yatra. Railways have also begun a 24x7 helpline to help pilgrims get all information.

Reportedly, more than 40,000 security personnel including Police and CRPF, drones and high-resolution CCTVs have been deployed for safety and security of Amarnath pilgrims. This year, over two lakh pilgrims have so far registered for the yatra which is scheduled to conclude on August 26 coinciding with the 'Raksha Bandhan' festival.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 29, 2018 01:13 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).