SRINAGAR: Union Home Minister P Chidambaram chaired a high-level security meeting in Srinagar on Tuesday. He is to spend the night at the Pahalgam hill station in south Kashmir.
Chidambaram is holding a district level security meeting at Pahalgam where arrangements for this year's Amarnath Yatra would be reviewed besides other things.
Pahalgam, situated 74 km south of summer capital Srinagar, is known for its dense pine forests, murmuring Lidder river which passes through the hills station, an amusement park and a recently laid golf course.
Pahalgam is also the south Kashmir base camp for the Amarnath Yatra to the cave shrine in Pir Panjal range, which starts here June 29.
"The expected arrival time of the home minister in Pahalgam is around 3 p.m. and he would remain busy with meetings up to 5 p.m."
"After a busy day, the home minister would spend some relaxing movements at Pahalgam," a source here told IANS.
A heavy blanket of security has been thrown around the hill station with security forces manning the dense forest areas and mountains in and around the resort.
A state protocol department owned hut has been done up for Chidambaram's night halt at Pahalgam.
"The maximum temperature in Pahalgam yesterday was 25.8 degrees Celsius as against 29.9 degrees in Srinagar," said an official of the local weather department here.
The minimum in Pahalgam was 8.0 degrees as against 16.9 degrees in Srinagar.
"The sky would remain partly clouded in Pahalgam today with possibility of some rain there this evening," the official said.
State Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand, senior officials of the union home ministry and the state government, paramilitary forces and the local police would also camp at Pahalgam with the home minister for the night.
