The batch, comprising 1,083 men, 465 women, 152 sadhus and 82 children, left in a fleet of 66 vehicles from the base camp of MAM stadium early on Monday morning, officials said.

With this batch as many as 53,995 yatris from different parts of the country have left for the cave shrine since the commencement of yatra on June 10, they said.

Though many pilgrims were going directly to the valley by road and air to undertake the pilgrimage via Baltal and Pahalgam routes, many of them from the neighbouring states of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi preferred to arrive in Jammu for onward journey to the shrine, they said.

The arrival of pilgrims in Jammu has picked up over the last several days, officials said adding that the authorities have made adequate arrangements for their lodging and boarding in the city.