Over 100 Telugu pilgrims stranded in Uttarakhand

A member of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) helps a woman pilgrim reach a safe place after heavy rains washed away roads in Kedarnath, Uttarakhand yesterday.


IANS/Hyderabad


Over 100 Telugu pilgrims are stranded in flood-hit Uttarakhand, and the governments of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh are making efforts to bring them back safely.
K Rammohan Rao, Andhra Pradesh’s representative in New Delhi, said 135 pilgrims from the state will be brought to the national capital by today morning. Officials were making arrangements to send them back to their native places.
Earlier, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu asked the state’s resident commissioner in New Delhi to ensure that the pilgrims reach home safe.
With heavy rains cutting off road connectivity, the pilgrims have been stranded for four days while they were on their way to Badrinath.
Learning about their condition, the chief minister immediately spoke to the resident commissioner and directed him to ensure that they are brought home safe. The chief minister is monitoring the situation, an official statement said.
A senior official of the Andhra Pradesh Bhavan has rushed to Haridwar to oversee rescue and relief operations. Meanwhile, the Telangana government sounded an alert following reports that a large number of pilgrims were stuck in Uttarakhand.
Officials in the chief minister’s office are in constant touch with the authorities in Uttarakhand to gather information about pilgrims from the state. Telangana Bhavan resident commissioner Shashank Goyal has contacted collectors of the worst-hit districts Rudraprayag and Chamoli, seeking information about people from Telangana stranded there.
The Telangana government has also set up helplines in Delhi to provide information and help. The numbers are 011-23380558 (resident commissioner) and 09871999052 (assistant commissioner).
The government has asked pilgrims who have gone for the Chardham and Sarovar yatra to provide information to the local district officials if members of their groups were missing.