Decoding the journey; routes of Amarnath Yatra pilgrims will now be tracked through ‘barcode system’

Jammu, July 1: Engaging in a journey of attaining spiritual bliss, the pilgrims at Amarnath Yatra are given the best facilities. The authorities have beefed up the security as they have started to issue a 'barcode-enabled' authority slip to pilgrims to keep a track of the actual number of people travelling to, and from the Amarnath cave shrine. The first batch of pilgrims left for cave shrine from Baltal base camp, near Sonmarg on Monday morning, kicking off the annual pilgrimage to the 46-day-long yatra.

Speaking about the various facilities, the Baltal Base Camp director, Krishan Lal said that it is the first time that Amarnath Shrine Board has taken this kind of initiative for the security of the pilgrims. With this new barcode system, there are two types to manage the total count of the pilgrims on the Amarnath Yatra.

The first is the traditional way of gathering information through banks in which there is a numerical number and barcode which is being scanned and a database is maintained. The second is the online registration facility in which around 50 pilgrims can register. In the online forms, there is a different QR code for each person which is then added to our database.

The authorities have also deployed a team of Central Reserved Police Force (CRPF) for this task. This initiative will help them in tracking the routes of the pilgrims and also the count to and fro to the Amarnath Yatra.

The pilgrims submit the forms after filling their details to the CRPF personnel while crossing the gates. After being thoroughly checked, they are cleared to move on the journey. Commending the security and safety, the people visiting the holy prigrimage are very happy with this technique.

A total of 1617 pilgrims (1174 men, 379 women, 15 children, 49 saints) began their journey to Amarnath cave shrine from Baltal axis and 2800 pilgrims (2321 men, 463 women, 16 children) started from Pahalgam axis, this morning.