Jammu/Jammu, July 3 -- Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Wednesday flagged off the first batch of Amarnath pilgrims numbering over 5,880 amid multi-tier security cover, marking the beginning of this year's pilgrimage from Jammu, in Kashmir, local people and authorities gave a warm welcome to the first batch of pilgrims at several places in Kashmir, as hundreds of them turned up in the valley Wednesday.

The 38-day pilgrimage to the 3,880-metre high shrine will commence on July 3 from the Valley via the twin tracks - the traditional 48-km Nunwan-Pahalgam route in Anantnag district and the 14-km shorter but steeper Baltal route in Ganderbal district.

A batch of 5,892 pilgrims, including 1,115 women, 31 children and 16 transgenders left th...