Amarnath Yatra: Online helicopter booking for pilgrims opens

A helicopter stands parked at a helipad near the holy cave shrine of Amarnath during ‘Pratham Pooja’ in Anantnag district, Tuesday, June 14, 2022. PTI Photo

The Shri Amarnath Shrine Board has opened online helicopter booking for the pilgrims as yatris from across the country have started reaching base camps in the winter capital Jammu.

The booking for helicopter tickets will be done through the official website of the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB).

The 62-day long pilgrimage will commence on July 1 from the twin tracks - the traditional 48-km Nunwan-Pahalgam route in the Anantnag district and the 14-km shorter but steep Baltal route in the Ganderbal district.

The online booking for helicopters has started for the service to be available from Srinagar, Baltal and Pahalgam routes, a local news agency reported.

Quoting sources, the report said that the fare for this year's yatra has not been hiked. As of now, around 3 lakh have registered online for the yatra, sources said adding that around five lakh devotees are expected to visit this year to the cave Shrine.

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The Global Vectra Helicorp Limited and Arrow Aircraft Private Limited are the service operators for the Baltal route while Heritage Aviation Pvt Ltd is the operator for the Pahalgam route.

M S Pawan Hans Limited will operate from Srinagar to the holy cave.

Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir administration has finalized the arrangements and established five 'Tatkal' (urgent) registration counters at prominent locations of Jammu city. "In all five counters have been established for Tatkal registration of the pilgrims at Vaishnavi Dham, Mahajan Sabha, Panchayat Ghar and two at Geeta Bhawan and Ram Mandir for the registration of Sadhus," an official said.