Jammu and Kashmir seeks 7,500 paramilitary personnel for Amarnath Yatra

With annual Amarnath Yatra set to begin from July 1, Jammu and Kashmir government has sought around 7,500 personnel of paramilitary forces from the Centre to ensure smooth conduct of the nearly two-month-long yatra.The additional security personnel will be deployed along the Baltal and Pahalgam routes to facilitate passage of pilgrims to the cave shrine of Lord Shiva at Amarnath in south Kashmir Himalayas, officials said.While, army would sanitise mountain peaks, deep valleys and high altitude forests enroute the twin tracks and around the Shrine, CRPF would be tasked to guard pilgrims, the tracks and the Shrine with the help of state police force.The state government, which has already prepared the blue print of security set up and traffic management, will utilise 14,000 security personnel belonging to police and paramilitary forces for the yatra this year.In view of increase in the militancy in Kashmir valley this year, well planned security strategy has been formulated to ensure incident-free yatra, which will conclude on August 24, they said.The state police will conduct recee of Pahalgam- Amarnath track from June and would start track sanitisation, high altitude area dominations, identification of vital places, camps and deployment of troops. The police have already conducted a recee of  Baltal-Amarnath route last week.