Amarnath Yatra remains suspended due to bad weather
Jammu, July 5 : No pilgrim on Thursday was allowed to move towards the Kashmir Valley from here as the Amarnath Yatra remained suspended due to inclement weather.
According to the police no pilgrim has departed the Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas for the Cave Shrine since Wednesday after a landslide hit the Baltal trek course on Tuesday.
"There was, however, limited helicopter services for the 'yatris' from the two base camps -- Baltal and Pahalgam -- to the holy cave on Wednesday," an official said.
So far, 60,752 pilgrims have performed the Yatra ever since it started on June 28.
Four pilgrims and a helper were killed and seven others injured by a landslide that hit the Brarimarg-Railpathri stretch of the trek from Baltal to the Cave Shrine on July 3.
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Bengal: CEC Gyanesh Kumar faces 'go back' slogans, shown black flags outside Dakshineswar temple
Kolkata (PTI): Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar faced protests with a group of people raising 'go back' slogans and showing black flags to him during his visit to Dakshineswar Kali Temple near here on Tuesday morning.
A similar protest over alleged arbitrary deletions in the post-SIR electoral rolls in the state was held outside the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport upon his arrival in Kolkata on Sunday night.
He had faced the 'go back' slogans and was shown black flags on Monday morning when he visited the Kalighat Temple in the southern part of the city.
Despite the protests outside the Dakshineswar Kali Temple, Kumar continued with his scheduled programmes in the state.
The CEC also visited Belur Math in Howrah district this morning, and said the poll panel is committed to violence-free elections in West Bengal.
He said the commission will make efforts to ensure that voters can exercise their franchise in a festive environment.
“The EC would like to ensure that polls will be violence-free or intimidation-free,” Kumar said while speaking to reporters during his visit to Belur Math.
The CEC is on a visit to the state to review poll preparedness and held meetings with political parties and officials on Monday ahead of the assembly elections.
During the meetings on Monday, Kumar warned that any lapse in maintaining law and order ahead of the elections would not be tolerated and stressed the need for strict monitoring to ensure free and fair polls.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had accused Kumar of threatening state officials during a meeting with the administration on Monday, and warned that "false bravado" by constitutional authorities was not acceptable, stepping up the confrontation between the state government and the poll panel over the voter deletions in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.
According to official data released on February 28, 63.66 lakh names, around 8.3 per cent of the electorate, have been deleted since the SIR process began in November last year, reducing the voter base from about 7.66 crore to just over 7.04 crore.
In addition, over 60.06 lakh electors have been placed under the "under adjudication" category, meaning their eligibility will be determined through legal scrutiny in the coming weeks, a process that could further reshape constituency-level electoral equations.
