VELLORE: About sixty pilgrims and tourists belonging to various parts of Tamil Nadu have been languishing in Lucknow without proper food and accommodation, with their cries for help going in vain.
They had set out from different places in Tamil Nadu including Tiruchy, Virudhnagar and Tiruvannamalai. Several elderly women and children are part of the groups.
“I came on a pilgrimage with my wife and returned from Ayodhya to Lucknow before the lockdown. Since then, we are confined within the hall opposite the Charbagh railway station. The money we had on hand has run out,” says 70-year-old Balasubramaniam from Tiruchy.
Despite knocking the doors of the local authorities, nothing has materialized for the stranded people to get back to their native towns.
“We submitted petitions to the local authorities here and also sent them to officials in our state but no action has been taken so far,” rues Kumaran, a native of Thesur in Tiruvannamalai district.
Kumaran set out on a tour along with a friend to several cities in the north in March before reaching Lucknow.
“We prepare food and eat only once in a day,” he notes. With the lockdown having been extended for another two weeks, these distraught people are desperate to return.
Meanwhile, Vellore Lok Sabha MP DM Kathir Anand shot off a letter to the Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary on Thursday, seeking his intervention to arrange transportation for the stranded men to return home.