Jammu, June 29:  Security has been beefed up at Udhampur Railway Station to avoid any untoward incident during the annual Amarnath Yatra.  SSP Railways was quoted by ANI saying, "Our personnel are patrolling 24x7. We've also got special dog squad to help us detect suspicious objects".

Reports inform that Railways has also started a 24x7 helpline to help pilgrims get all information. As part of the biggest-ever security blanket during the annual Yatra, vehicles have been tagged with electromagnetic chips, bike and bullet-proof SUV police convoys and scores of bullet-proof bunkers have been deployed.

Reports inform that at least 40,000 security personnel including Police and CRPF,  drones and high-resolution CCTVs have been deployed for safety and security of Amarnath pilgrims during the annual two-month-long pilgrimage to the cave shrine.

The annual yatra to the shrine will commence on June 28 and will come to an end on August 26. On Thursday, the yatra was halted after bad weather along both north and south Kashmir routes. Following improvement in weather conditions, the yatra resumed later in the day.  Reports inform that authorities allowed pilgrims to move towards the Cave Shrine from north Kashmir's Baltal base camp although the Yatra continued to remain suspended from Pahalgam base camp in the south.

The two-month annual pilgrimage to the 3,880-metre-high cave shrine of Amarnath is believed to see the highest footfall this year due to elaborate security arrangements.  In 2017, a total of 2.60 lakh pilgrims offered prayers at the shrine in 2017. This year, the yatra will be longer by 20 days against 40 days in 2017.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 29, 2018 08:57 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).