The Union Home Ministry may hold a final review meeting on Tuesday regarding the security of the Amarnath Yatra. Ministry sources gave this information. The meeting, to be held at North Block, will be chaired by Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla, while chiefs of all central police forces, top officials of intelligence agencies, top officials of the Jammu and Kashmir administration and senior people associated with the Amarnath Shrine Board are expected to be present.

The Amarnath Yatra will start from July 1 this year and continue till August 31. The deployment of security forces will also be discussed in this high-level meeting to be held in the Ministry of Home Affairs. A major change this year has been that CRPF will not be deployed at about half a dozen places along the yatra route and near the Amarnath cave.

ITBP and BSF jawans will be deployed at these places. The security of the Amarnath cave, located at an altitude of 3888 meters, traditionally rested with the CRPF. This time this responsibility has been given to the Indo-Tibet Border Police.

CRPF has been given the responsibility of protecting the low-lying areas. It may be noted that Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and DGP Dilbag Singh held separate meetings to review the preparations and security situation for the Amarnath Yatra.

Sources say that ITBP and BSF personnel have been deployed for the Yatra this time due to deployment of large number of CRPF personnel in violence-hit Manipur and Panchayat elections in West Bengal.

Sources also reveal that keeping in view the security threats and challenges arising this time and the requirement of the Jammu and Kashmir Police, it has been decided to deploy ITBP jawans near the cave. It may be known that in the year 2022, 3.45 lakh devotees had visited Baba Barfani. This time more number of devotees are expected to reach.