Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has deputed a team headed by the State’s Special Representative in Delhi to Dehradun to expedite steps to bring home all 399 Tamil Nadu pilgrims stranded in Uttarakhand.
“All the stranded pilgrims in Uttarakhand are safe and the Tamil Nadu government will take steps on a war footing to bring them back home. As such, relatives of the pilgrims need not worry about it,” the CM said in a statement. The team comprising the Revenue Secretary and Commissioner of Revenue Administration will coordinate with the Centre and Uttarakhand governments to airlift the pilgrims to Dehradun by helicopter on government expense, and then onwards to Delhi, and bring them to Chennai by air.
An information counter will be opened at Chennai Police Commissioner’s office and a helpline has been set up at Tamil Nadu House in Delhi (011-24193455, 011-24193456). A toll-free number, 1070, is also available at the office of the Commissioner of Relief, Tamil Nadu.
TN pilgrims stranded from each district in Uttarakhand: Chennai and Villupuram (37 each), Tiruvallur (4), Kancheepuram (19), Salem (41), Coimbatore (13), Tirupur (16), Madurai (62), Virudhunagar (64), Thanjavur (105)and Ramanathapuram (1).