New Delhi: The annual Kailash Mansarovar Yatra commences from the old route via Lipulekh pass from Monday and the pilgrimage through the new route via Nathula Pass in Sikkim will begin from June 18.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had earlier announced that the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage will commence from June 18 for the first time via a motorable route passing through China.
The route through Nathula will augment the capacity and reduce the hardship and journey time enabling many more pilgrims, in particular aged pilgrims, to undertake the yatra.
The new route will be in addition to the Lipulekh pass in Uttarakhand through which the pilgrimage took place until last year.
Sushma Swaraj also unveiled a website containing detailed information about the yatra.
The pilgrimage, which commences from today from the old route via Lipulekh pass, will cost Rs 1.5 lakh.
The new motorable route via Nathula on the India-China border from east Sikkim to Shigatse, the second biggest city in Tibet, was added after a memorandum of understanding was signed between the two countries during Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s state visit to Beijing in September 2014.
Beginning June 18, the yatra via the new route will cost Rs 1.7 lakh.
Eighteen batches of 60 people each will pass through the old route whereas five batches of 50 people each will use the new route to reach Kailash Mansarovar in Tibet.
In a first, a dedicated interactive website - http://kmy.gov.in - will have details like fares for the journey from both routes and other information people need to plan for the pilgrimage that will end in September.
On the bilingual website available in Hindi and English, each applicant will also receive a unique identification number to track the status of the form submitted online.
A bilingual Kailash Mansarovar yatra helpline is now available at 011-24300655, where the caller will have a menu of options to choose from and learn more about the pilgrimage.
