From Qazigund To Srinagar: Amarnath Yatra Pilgrims To Take A Safer Highway Route 

The annual Amarnath Yatra this year will pass through a new highway to avoid hazardous pockets, even as an additional 22,000 forces are being planned to be deployed to further secure the yatra routes from Pahalgam in southern Kashmir and Sonamarg in northern Kashmir.

The police and paramilitary forces will depend on the new highway from Qazigund to Srinagar to get around the vulnerable stretches of Bijbehara and Awantipora in southern Kashmir.

As the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) government prepares for upcoming yatra, the police has drawn up a detailed security report, mapping the yatra route and identifying the flash points for deployment of armed forces.

Besides, the Central Reserve Police Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police and Sashastra Seema Bal, the Army would also be deployed in some other areas to thwart any attack.

“This new highway passes through sparsely populated areas that are less difficult to sanitise. We are bypassing the areas where there was possibility of militant attack. Besides, we have identified the spots where we will have to put extra deployment to avoid any untoward incident,” a senior police official, who is part of the yatra arrangement team, told Economic Times.

The part of the four-lane Srinagar-Qazigund highway was made operational in October last year.