Jammu, June 27 -- The Jammu and Kashmir administration has made arrangements to house over 50,000 pilgrims in various lodgement centres across the Jammu region for their comfortable pilgrimage to the holy cave shrine of Amarnath in the South Kashmir Himalayas beginning July 3, officials said.

The 38-day-long Amarnath Yatra is scheduled to start on July 3 from the twin routes - the traditional 48-kilometre Pahalgam route in Anantnag district and the shorter but steeper 14-kilometre Baltal route in Ganderbal district - leading to the 3,880-metre-high holy cave shrine. The first batch of pilgrims will leave for Kashmir from the Jammu-based Bhagwati Nagar base camp a day before the start of the Yatra.

"Arrangements have been made to provide b...