Security on the 400-km Lakhanpur-Srinagar highway has been tightened as the first batch of pilgrims leaves for the cave shrine of Amarnath from Jammu on Wednesday.

The first batch will be flagged off from Jammu early morning at 4.30 am by deputy chief minister Nirmal Singh.

The entire route to the two base camps at Pahalgam and Baltal has been dominated by the army, while the CRPF, BSF, ITBP, SSB and state police, too, have been deployed in strength along the highway in view of frequent terror attacks in the area.

The entire route will be sanitised by the security forces before the pilgrims leave for the valley from Jammu and also from the base camps.

The authorities are taking no chance in view of intelligence inputs that the terrorists might attack the pilgrims with a view to incite communal violence elsewhere in the country. Security forces have in the past few days eliminated several terrorists particularly in the South Kashmir that will be the centre of activity of the pilgrims for the next 41 days.

The batch that will leave Jammu on Wednesday shall proceed for the pilgrimage from Pahalgam and Baltal on 29 June. The pilgrimage will conclude on 7 August with one batch each leaving from the two base camps daily.

As a matter of security, the authorities have asked the pilgrims to cross the Jawahar Tunnel on the highway before 3.30 pm so as to reach the base camps in the day light. Many vehicles of pilgrims were damaged last year by stone-pelters.

The core group of the army, central security forces and intelligence agencies met in the Badami Bagh cantonment in Srinagar on Tuesday to review the security arrangements for the pilgrims. A similar meeting was held at the headquarters of the 16 Corps at Nagrota near Jammu last week.

Police patrols have been deployed on the 100-km stretch between Lakhanpur, gateway into J&K from Punjab, and Jammu where the pilgrims will halt for the night and escorted to the Valley next morning under a heavy security cover. Police have ordered that no vehicle shall be allowed to enter the convoy of pilgrims.

Governor NN Vohra, who is chairman of the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) is on its toes and has personally been monitoring the security and other arrangements for smooth conduct of the pilgrimage. Top officers of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) have also made several trips to the Valley to ensure safety of the pilgrims.

35 sniffer dog squads and highly trained disaster management teams of NDRF and SDRF have also been deployed on the pilgrimage routes.