Flow of pilgrims to Amarnath yatra falls

The flow of pilgrims to the holy Amarnath cave shrine dropped by over 70 per cent after the Katra twin explosions and the Tanda army camp attack.

Six pilgrims, including a child, were killed and 48 injured, in two powerful explosions set off by militants on July 21 at Banganga, 2 km from Katra.

The next day, the militants attacked an army camp in Tanda in Jammu killing a brigadier and seven jawans.

Senior state tourism officials said on July 20 a batch of 3,372 pilgrims left for the cave shrine, followed by 3423 on July 21 (the day of the attack on the pilgrims) and 3294 on July 22 (the day of the attack on the Tanda army camp).

The numbers nosedived to 2810 on July 23,  followed by 2802 on July 24, 2516 on July 25, 2343 on July 26 and 1735 on July 27, they said.

The number of pilgrims further dipped to 1732 on July 28 and to 1173 on July 29.

"The two terror attacks have created a fear psychosis among the people across the country, particularly tourists and
pilgrims, who are keeping away now," a senior official said.

"Not only this, the rush of pilgrims/tourists to the Kashmir valley has also reduced by 50 per cent," he added.