The annual Amarnath Yatra began on Saturday with the first batch of pilgrims setting out from the base camp here for the cave shrine in the south Kashmir Himalayas.
The 62-day pilgrimage was flagged off by Deputy Commissioner, Ganderbal, Shyambir, along with senior officials of the Shri Amarnath Ji Shrine Board and the police, at the Baltal base camp.
Baltal, in central Kashmir's Ganderbal district, is one of the twin routes for the annual pilgrimage. The other one is the Pahalgam route in south Kashmir's Anantnag district.