Srinagar, May 29 (IANS): Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik on Wednesday launched the online registration of pilgrims for this year's annual Amarnath Yatra beginning on July 1.

Malik is the Chairman of the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB) that manages the affairs of the annual pilgrimage to the Himalayan cave shine of Amarnath in Anantnag district in the Kashmir Valley.

A statement by SASB said: "Governor launched the online registration of Yatris ... on pilot basis.

"The online registration facility will be available to 500 intending pilgrims per day from both routes, 250 from Pahalgam and 250 from Baltal."

It said that as a new initiative, the Shrine Board was introducing QR Coding/Bar Coding of Yatra Permit Forms (YPFs).

The QR Code is linked to the Yatri's database. The YPF with QR Code will be scanned at both Access Control Gates Domel and Chandanwari and intermediate camps.

"This will help in enumeration of Yatris and their tracking on real time basis," it said.

"The Shrine Board will closely monitor this pilot project of Online registration and strive to make it successful so that online registration of pilgrims could be increased in future."