The annual pilgrimage to the holy cave shrine of Amarnath in south Kashmir will commence on July 3 and conclude after 57 days on August 28 on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan, lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha said on Sunday.
He said the Pratham Puja, to invoke the blessings of Lord Shiva, will be held on Jyeshtha Purnima, June 29.
Addressing a press conference at Lok Bhavan here, the LG said advance registration for the yatra will begin on April 15 via both offline and online modes. “The registration facility will be available at 554 branches of J&K Bank, Punjab National Bank, State Bank of India, and Yes Bank across the country,” the LG said.
He said radio frequency identification devices will be issued to every registered pilgrim and service provider. Registered pilgrims will receive group accident insurance with the sum assured enhanced to ₹10 lakh per person. Coverage for both accidental and natural deaths of ponies- ₹50,000 per animal, will be provided through the National Livestock Mission.
“Grid power supply will be available along the Baltal Axis up to the Holy Cave and from the Holy Cave to Panjtarni. Yatra tracks will be adequately illuminated. Various e-services and a pre-paid system for hiring ponies, pithoos, palkis etc will be available to pilgrims for ease of yatra. Yatri Niwas facilities will be available at Baltal, Pantha Chowk (Srinagar), Nunwan, and Chanderkote,” the LG said.
“Shri Amarnath Ji Shrine Board has made preparations for all essential facilities including movement, lodging, electricity, water, sanitation, communication and health of the pilgrims,” he said.
Lakhs of pilgrims from across the country annually pay obeisance at the shrine located at a height of 3,880 metres that houses a naturally forming ice stalagmite revered as the Shiva Lingam.
Pilgrims usually trek 36km up the mountainous path to the shrine from the Pahalgam base camp in south Kashmir or take the shorter but tougher 14-km trek from the Baltal side in central Kashmir.
In 2025, over 4 lakh pilgrims had visited the shrine which was held for 38 days immediately after the Pahalgam terror attack. From 2022 to 2024, the number of yatris had shown an upward trend with 5.1 lakh footfall in 2024. The number of pilgrims in 2023 was 4.45 lakh and 3.65 lakh in 2022.
Yatra registrations to open on April 15
Advance registration for Amarnath Yatra will begin from April 15 across 554 designated bank branches in the country.
The Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) has issued a detailed step-by-step procedure for pilgrims on its official website https://jksasb.nic.in/#.
Officials said the registration and issuance of yatra permits will be conducted on a first-come, first-served basis, subject to a fixed daily quota for each route at every designated branch.
As per the guidelines, only pilgrims aged between 13 and 70 years will be eligible for registration, while women with more than six weeks of pregnancy will not be permitted to undertake the pilgrimage, even if they possess the mandatory health certificate.
For the 2026 yatra, registration will be carried out in real time through Aadhaar-based biometric eKYC authentication, and permits will be generated online through the official portal of the Shrine Board, guidelines said.
Pilgrims will be required to submit a valid compulsory health certificate, issued on or after April 8, 2026, by an authorised doctor or medical institution, along with the prescribed fee of ₹150 per permit.
The permit will also bear the date on which the pilgrim is allowed to cross the access control gates at Domel (Baltal axis) or Chandanwari (Pahalgam axis), it said.
According to the procedure, registration for a particular yatra date will close seven days in advance.
