There was no clarity on the number of pilgrims from the state on Char Dham yatra in Uttarakhand. However, the Uttarakhand government announced that around 25 Telugus died in the flash floods and landslides yatra.
On Sunday 51 people stranded at various places including Badrinath were airlifted to Delhi on Sunday. On Monday, around 70 people will be brought to Dehra Dun and to Delhi from there to Hyderabad by flight. So far, the state government has airlifted 351 pilgrims from Badrinath to their home state and 2,500 Telugu have returned home safely from Uttarakhand.
Chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy enquired with officials about the rescue and relief measures being taken for Char Dham pilgrims.
Meanwhile, at a press conference held here on Sunday, Telugu Desam leader Ravula Chandrasekhar Reddy demanded that the state government furnish the information of pilgrims missing in the yatra. Reddy demanded that the state government pay an ex gratia of Rs 10 lakh each to the kin of those who died in Uttarakhand. He regretted that there was no clarity on the death toll and the state and central governments should take the responsibility of arriving at the actual number of deaths that occurred in flash floods and landslides during the Char Dham yatra.
The TDP demanded release of a white paper on the operations being conducted to rescue the Telugus stranded in the Himalayan state and claimed that his party was continuing relief operations in Dehra Dun on its own. A team of doctors deputed by the TDP visited Badrinath by walk and provided medicare to 40 Telugu pilgrims, Chandrasekhara Reddy said.
The Andhra Pradesh State Government Retired Employees Association will contribute one day’s pension to the PM’s Relief Fund.
Bahuguna Thanks Kiran
Uttarakhand chief minister Vijay Bahuguna has thanked his Andhra Pradesh counterpart N Kiran Kumar Reddy and the government for the generous contribution to relief operations for the flood victims in Uttarakhand.
Bahuguna spoke over phone on Sunday morning and thanked Kiran Kumar Reddy. He said that at a time of distress, timely moral, physical and financial assistance from the Andhra Pradesh government helped his state a lot.
Reddy announced Rs 50-crore aid for Uttarakhand flood victims, of which Rs 10 crore is meant for the Uttarakhand government and Rs 40 crore for building pilgrim amenities complexes at the Char Dham piligrimage centres of Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri.