Pilgrims stuck in cloudburst-hit Chamoli safe

BENGALURU: It all began with heavy rains---an entire bridge got washed away and roads were buried under rubble. Following the massive cloudburst in the Chamoli area in Uttarakhand which disrupted the Char Dham Yatra on Saturday, it was chaos all over.

Kailash Chand Prajapati, 54, resident of Nandini Layout, is one among hundreds of pilgrims from Karnataka who got stranded in Chamoli. Sharing her plight over phone with TOI, Prajapati said: “I started from Bengaluru on May 19 and the cloudburst happened around 3pm. We are stuck at a place where neither the bus can move forward or go backward. An entire bridge has got washed away. However, we are safe.”

Rajendra Singh from KR Puram whose mother and relatives are stuck in Uttarakhand said: “My mother Banwari Kanwar, 52, along with her friends started for Char Dham Yatra from Bengaluru eight days ago. They went with a group of 45 people, most of them aged between 45 and 50; a 17-year-old girl who is my distant relative is also with my mother. I spoke to my mother in the noon on Sunday; they all are safe.”

He said the team was hit by heavy rains 140km ahead of Kedarnath. "As the weather is clear now, officials have told them to continue their journey if they want or head back home. My mother is willing to go ahead," he added.

‘Pilgrims from Karnataka safe’

The Karnataka Bhavan in Delhi has confirmed that all the 150 pilgrims from Karnataka are safe.

Atul Kumar Tiwari, resident commissioner in Delhi, said: “There has been no loss of life. The pilgrims got stuck in Chamoli as the bridge got washed away. The bridge is under repair and the pilgrims will be brought back safely to Delhi or Karnataka by Monday evening.”

A senior official from Karnataka said another team of 45 pilgrims, most of them from Kolar, are suspected to be stuck in Chamoli. “We got to know that they are all safe and are waiting for the road to be repaired. No casualties have been reported. It is learnt that the team reached New Delhi a few days ago after touring places like Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh,” he added.