indiaUpdated: May 30, 2020 04:43 ISTThe annual Amarnath Yatra, curtailed because of the coronavirus disease pandemic, will be held only for 14 days from July 21 this year, officials familiar with the matter said on Friday. The pilgrimage to the 3,880-metre-high holy cave shrine of Amarnath in the south Kashmir Himalayas will now be from the shorter Baltal route only, they added. “It was finalised that a 14-day-long yatra will be allowed from the shorter Baltal track from July 21 to August 3 in view of the Covid-19 pandemic, “ one official said. Thousands of pilgrims either take the traditional and longer 45km-long Pahalgam route or the shorter 14km-long Baltal route to Amarnath, one of Hinduism’s holiest shrines, every year. Last year, the Amarnath Yatra was cut short following intelligence inputs of terror threats

Source: Hindustan Times May 29, 2020 17:53 UTC