The first batch of the controversial pilgrims to Amarnath Shrine in India-controlled Kashmir was flagged off on Monday amid stringent security measures, Tourism officials said.

The batch, comprising of 900 people, left the base camp Jammu, the region's winter capital, early Monday morning.

"This batch of pilgrims will undertake the journey through Baltal route as the traditional Pahalgam route is snow bound," a tourism official said to Xinhua.

The pilgrimage will continue for two months and pilgrims will also be allowed to undertake journey from Pahalgam route, once the track is cleared of snow.

Officials said that all the security arrangements and facilities have been put in place to ensure smooth conduct of the pilgrimage.

Last year a disagreement over the transfer of land to the shrine board brought the region to boil, after the state government transferred 100 acres of forest land to the shrine board for building infrastructure, which was opposed by the locals fearing transfer of land to non-state subjects amounts to violation of laws.

The stand-off took a communal color and Hindu activists disrupted the transportation of essential supplies to Muslim majority areas and thereby imposing an economic blockade on them.

It subsequently saw biggest pro-independence rallies in the region, with people coming in millions on the streets and demanding implementation of United Nations resolutions in solving Kashmir dispute.

More than 60 people were killed and scores left in injured in police firings across the region.

Environmental groups have been accusing previous board of playing havoc with the fragile environment enroute the holy cave by increasing flow of pilgrims and increasing the duration of pilgrimage from 15 days to two months.

Last year 500,000 pilgrims from across the India visited the cave.

Source: Xinhua