Cloudburst occurs near Amarnath cave shrine (VIDEO)

Srinagar: A cloudburst occurred on Wednesday near Amarnath cave shrine in south Kashmir Himalaya where the annual pilgrimage was cancelled in view of COVID-19 pandemic.

However, there were no reports of any damage to the property or loss of life in the incident.

Official sources said that a cloudburst occurred near the Amarnath cave shrine on Wednesday, triggering a flash flood. 'There was no damage to property or loss of life due to the flash flood,' they said.

They said the tents belonging to security forces, Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) and other departments have been shifted to safer places.

The annual yatra to Amarnath cave shrine was cancelled for the second successive year in 2021 due to COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, in 2019, the pilgrimage was stopped and pilgrims were asked to leave as a precautionary measure following abrogation of Article 370 on August 5.

But, all the rituals are being held as per the tradition at the holy cave even as devotees, who are unable to have physical 'darshan' following cancellation of the annual yatra due to COVID-19 pandemic, can perform live ‘aarti’. The Chadi Mubarak, holy silver mace of Lord Shiva, will be taken to Amarnath cave shrine on Rakshabandan for the final pooja.

Reliance Jio in the third week of this month started streaming live 'aarti' from Amarnath cave shrine on JioTV in order to facilitate devotees. The development had come over a week after Lt Governor Manoj Sinha launched online service of SASB to facilitate devotees from across the world to perform virtual puja, hawan and get prasad at their doorsteps.

The Shrine board had already arranged for live telecast of morning and evening aarti from Holy Cave of Lord Shiva both on TV and Digital platforms after Yatra was cancelled for the second consecutive year in the wake of Covid surge. (UNI)