A pilgrim uses plastic sheet to protect himself from rain during Amarnath yatra. (PTI)

Srinagar, July 14: The Amarnath shrine board has requested pilgrims who are physically weak not to trek to the cave shrine, the advisory prompted by 51 deaths in the first two weeks of the yatra.

R.K. Goyal, the chief executive officer of the shrine board that regulates the Amarnath yatra, said many pilgrims ignored the health advisories and ended up paying with their lives. “This is a very arduous journey and only healthy people should undertake it, but people ignore our advisories,” he said.

The advisory, issued yesterday, said: “No person who has any serious medical or orthopaedic ailment, or any breathing, chest or heart problem should think of undertaking this arduous yatra, which involves climbing up to nearly 14,000 feet.”

The shrine board never turns down pilgrims because of the sensitive nature of the yatra and doctors who man the medical camps on the route have no authority to stop the devotees mid-way.

A doctor at Ganderbal, which is on the Baltal route to Amarnath, said politics surrounding the yatra was to blame for the deaths, implying that if doctors told some devotees not to proceed, there could be a backlash from Hindutva groups.

Situated in a narrow gorge at 14,000 feet, the Amarnath cave is 44.8km from Pahalgam and takes four days to reach. The Baltal route is shorter — a day’s trek — but steeper.