Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Wednesday morning flagged off the first batch of pilgrims for the annual Amarnath Yatra from the Bhagwati Nagar base camp in the Jammu city for their onward journey to the Pahalgam and Baltal base camps in Kashmir.

The 43-day pilgrimage to the cave shrine will begin from twin base camps in Kashmir on Thursday and will conclude on August 11 on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan.