In Jammu and Kashmir, over 15,000 devotees drawn from different parts of the country, paid obeisance in the holy Amarnath cave in South Kashmir Himalayas after the gates were thrown open for the pilgrims when the Governor N N Vohra performed darshan of the natural ice Shivlingam on Wednesday morning.

The pilgrimage will culminate on the “Shrawan Purnima” falling on August 13th, when the holy Mace of Lord Shiva will be taken inside the cave.

Meanwhile, the Helicopter service has also started for the pilgrims from Baltal to Panjtarni and from Pahalgam to Panjtarni.

The one way heli-fare for Baltal-Panjtarni and Pahalgam-Panjtarni has been fixed at 2425 and 3450 rupees respectively. Children, in the age group of 2-12 years, will be required to pay half of the aforesaid prices.

Meanwhile the third batch of 2, 163 pilgrims left the Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas from Jammu for the holy cave under tight security arrangements on Thursday.

Amid chanting of mantras and bhajans the yatris included 1340 male, 529 female,97 children and 197 Sadhus. They left in a cavalcade of 55 vehicles. So far 6,444 registered yatris have left from Jammu for the holy cave for the darshan of the holy ice lingam.