Visakhapatnam: Unseasonal snowfall stranded pilgrims in Kedarnath on Monday morning. A. Ramakrishna, who had gone for a tour to Kedarnath shrine from Srikakulam with his team of 40 members, returned safe on Tuesday night. He narrated the terrible, sudden snowfall at the scenic hills of Kedarnath.
Narrating the tough times over phone to this newspaper from Uttarakhand, Mr Ramakrishna said that till 10.30 am on Monday, life was normal and the weather was pleasant in Kedar-nath. “But everything changed by around 10.40 am on Monday while we were on the way to Kedarnath shrine from Sitapur,” he added.
“The snowfall of about five inches had blocked the road and disrupted the movement of pilgrims. Our team had scattered here and there for shelter following the snowfall and stayed in small tents in the whole night without food and blankets. Bad weather had disrupted mobile communication and I was unable to find out the condition of few others of my team,” he said.
“On Tuesday night, with much difficulty, we reached Sitapur. For us, it was a rebirth as team members — Chairperson of Zilla Pari-shad, Srikakulam Dhanal-akshmi and few others — were hospitalised due to low oxygen levels. Now we are in a safe zone in Sitapur and will return to Srikaku-lam soon,” Mr Ramakrishna added.
“Each hour came with a tale of horror. A number of pilgrims from other parts of the country suffered a lot in front of us without food, proper shelter and warm beverages and they struggled a lot to keep themsel-ves warm as all the shops on the way had shut down. Every minute appeared to be the last moment of life as there was no transport and the weather was not conducive for flying choppers to shift the pilgrims to a safe zone and the entire communication system ca-me to a standstill,” S. Da-modhar from Srikakulam, who was stranded in Kedarnath uphill, said.
Over 80 persons from Vi-zag and Srikakulam distr-icts were stranded in vario-us places on the way to Ked-arnath shrine in Uttarakh-and due to sudden snowfall and drop in temperature. The pilgrims were on a Char Dham yatra when they were hit by the unseasonal snowfall.
There was a 44-member team from Zilla Parishad, Srikakulam, led by Zilla Parishad Chairman Chowdary Dhanalakhsmi and 12 persons from Parawada and 10 from Vepagunta in Vizag city.
Speaking to mediapersons, Pendurthi MLA Bandaru Satyanarayana Murthy said that all the pilgrims from Vizag were safe and 11 members from Vizag were already on their way back He appealed to the family members not to panic and said that the State Government was doing all necessary help to bring them back safely and a help desk has been opened at Andhra Bhavan in New Delhi.
K. Sanyasi Naidu said that 44 ZPTCs and MPTCs from Srikakulam had gone to New Delhi and Uttarakhand for a study tour to study the implementation of NREGS, water schemes and other panchayat related schemes on May 3. During the tour, they started to visit prominent shrines, including Chardham. “However, they got struck at Kedarnath and now they have reached a hotel and will return back to Srikakulam,” he said.
Srikakulam MP K. Rammohan Naidu said that 60 pilgrims from Srikakulam district were stranded in Kedarnath and at present, all are safe. “I have been in touch with a few pilgrims over the phone and they will return to Srikakulam,” he said.
