Jammu: A fresh batch of over 1,100 pilgrims left on Saturday to perform the ongoing Amarnath Yatra, an official said.

“Another batch of 1,180 pilgrims left the Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas at 3.40 a.m. in an escorted convoy of 43 vehicles for the Kashmir Valley,” he said.

There were 787 males, 243 females and 150 sadhus (holy men) in the convoy.

The pilgrimage to the Himalayan cave shrine that began on 29 June, entered its 24th day on Saturday.

The 40-day long ‘yatra’ will end on 7 August on ‘Shravan Purnima’ coinciding with the Raksha Bandhan festival.

Every day the pilgrims have to start their journey early as no vehicles carrying pilgrims are allowed to cross the Jawahar Tunnel on the Jammu-Srinagar highway after 3.30 pm due to security reasons.

The precaution was taken to ensure that the pilgrims reach the base camps of Baltal in the north and Pahalgam in the south of the Kashmir Valley before sunset.

From the two base camps, the pilgrims have to track treacherous mountain tracks. The traditional Pahalgam route is 46 km long and takes around four days. While the one from Baltal is 14 km.

The yatris who use the Baltal route return to the base camp the same day after paying obeisance inside the cave shrine.

Helicopter services are also available for pilgrims on both routes.

A total of 48 pilgrims have so far died during the yatra in 2017. Of these 17 died in a road accident on Jammu-Srinagar highway on 16 July.

While eight died in a terror attack on a bus carrying pilgrims at Batengo on the same highway on 10 July in Anantnag district. Another 23 died due to natural causes.

Situated at 3,888 metres above the sea-level, the Amarnath cave houses an ice stalagmite structure that waxes and wanes with the size of the visible moon.

Devotees believe the ice stalagmite structure symbolizes mythical powers of Lord Shiva.

Over 35,000 security personnel drawn from the army, Central Reserve Police Force, Sashastra Seema Bal, Indo-Tibetan Border Police and the state police are deployed for the protection of the pilgrims this year.

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress and Shiv Sena on Friday condemned National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah’s suggestion of third party mediation to resolve the Kashmir issue.

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Abdullah had suggested that India should take the help of “friends” to resolve the Kashmir issue, drawing sharp reactions from the parties.

“Abdullah must stop advancing Pakistan’s fake nuclear blackmail. Out of power, Abdullah is speaking the language of separatists and of Pakistan. His flip-flops on Kashmir reek of hypocrisy,” BJP spokesperson GVL Narsimha Rao said.

He said Abdullah must tell “his friends” in Pakistan to stop exporting terror and meddling in Kashmir.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi too flayed any attempt for third party intervention to resolve the issue, saying “Kashmir is India”.

“It is being said there should be discussion on Kashmir with China and Pakistan but my opinion is that Kashmir is India and India is Kashmir and this is our internal matter… our internal business and no one should interfere in it,” he said.

Shiv Sena leader Arvind Sawant also “deplored” Abdullah’s comment, saying, “Kashmir is our issue. Kashmir is India’s and we will resolve the issue within the country. Nobody else is required to intervene in our matter”.

Union minister Giriraj Singh said it is the government’s clear policy that it will “not tolerate any intervention” from a third party on the Kashmir issue.

“Till Pakistan keeps on funding terrorists, there would be no talks with Pakistan,” he said.

Criticising Abdullah’s comments, Jammu and Kashmir’s deputy chief minister Nirmal Singh said that Abdullah is “out of power and frustated”.

“What do you mean by third party? What is the stand of the entire country? What is the resolution of Parliament?” he questioned, wondering whether Abdullah wants India to “bend its knees before Pakistan”.

“I condemn this. I will ask him to apologise for such comments,” he added.

BJP MP Subramanian Swamy said, “In my opinion Farooq Abdullah should go to some third country…He is not talking in favour of India. Even Pakistan will not accept him”.

Claiming that dialogue was the only solution for Kashmir, Abdullah had said, “The way out is through dialogue. Use your friends… Use them for dialogue to resolve the issue”.

“Till what time should we wait? Should we wait for a thousand years? You have to take the bull by the horns. You have to do it sometimes. They (Pakistan) have atom bomb, so have you. How many people will you kill? This is not the way,” he had said.

“How many more wars will you fight? How much more will you damage India? The money you spent on buying planes, materials for forces … If you spend it on poor farmers, India will prosper,” Abdullah said.

Lucknow: With the entire opposition absent from the proceedings of the budget session in Uttar Pradesh assembly for the second consecutive day, the budget worth several hundred crores of 76 departments was passed on Friday in merely 15 minutes.

The Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Congress and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) are keeping away from the proceedings after a vitriolic attack from Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday.

Tearing into the opposition, he warned them not to preach, as if he opens his mouth, many opposition leaders would not have a place to hide. Taking umbrage to this, the opposition had announced boycott of the assembly proceedings.

The budget was passed without any supplementaries or any debate. Fourteen questions were put from the treasury benches and they were responded to in 15 minutes and the budget passed.

A motion was moved in the House to congratulate Ram Nath Kovind for his election as the 14th President of India.

Parliamentary affairs minister Suresh Khanna also rebutted charges by the opposition, given to the media, that the Chief Minister was unparliamentary in his language and had threatened the opposition benches.

The budget session was to conclude on 28 July but chances are high now that it might be curtailed to 24 July.

The House was adjourned on Friday till Monday and it is expected that on that day, the budget of remaining departments, including Home, will be presented and passed.

New Delhi: A CAG report has exposed wasteful and avoidable expenditures, and irregularities in three IITs at Jodhpur, Roorkee, and Madras, that cost the exchequer around Rs 18.03 crores.

According to the Comptroller and Auditor General’s report – Compliance Audit Observations for year ended March 2016 – IIT-Roorkee spent Rs 15.06 crore in vain for construction of sewer lines and sewage treatment plant projects which was not completed even after four years from the date of completion.

IIT-Roorkee had also paid service tax to the tune of around Rs 1.33 crores for outsourced services although these services were exempted from such tax, the report stated.

IIT-Jodhpur had irregularly waived recovery of excess payment amounting to Rs 59.38 lakh to its faculty.

The report said, “The MHRD has directed IIT-Jodhpur to stop overpayment and recover the excess payments”.

IIT-Madras has been accused of incurring avoidable expenditure of Rs 1.05 crores towards penal charges on electricity consumption.

Besides, Indian Institute of Management – Kozhikode (IIM-K) has also been accused of extending GPF-cum-pension scheme to its employees without government approval which has cost Rs 61.20 lakh.

Eight fishermen from Tamil Nadu were today arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy for allegedly fishing in their territorial waters, a senior fisheries official said.

This is the fifth such incident this month. The fishermen from Nagapattinam district were arrested for fishing off Neduntheevu near the Sri Lankan coast and have been taken to Kangesanthurai port, Nagapattinam joint fisheries director Amala Xavier said.
On Monday, four fishermen from Jagadapattinam in Pudukottai district were arrested for allegedly fishing off Neduntheevu.

On 13 July, seven fishermen from Mandapam near here were held off Neduntheevu and taken to Kangesanthurai port, for allegedly fishing in the Lankan waters.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention in finding a permanent solution to the recurring mid-sea arrests.

“Such continuing incidents of arrests of fishermen were a deliberate attempt by Sri Lanka to derail India’s efforts to find a permanent solution to the vexed issue,” he had said in a letter dated 13 July. The state government has maintained that retrieval of Katchatheevu, an islet ceded to Sri Lanka in the 1970s, was the “only solution” to the vexed fishermen’s issue.