Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, June 22: Though over a dozen pilgrims of Jammu have returned safely from holy Chardham yatra after witnessing the nightmarish experience of June 16 disaster in Kedar Ghati of Uttarakhand, the whereabouts of some people are still not known who had left for the pilgrimage prior to the disaster.
It was an emotional reunion for the four members of the family of Ashwani Sharma from Malhotra Mohalla of the city who reached here safely this morning from Joshi Math. Mr Sharma along with his wife Neelam Sharma and two children had gone to Chardham yatra and on June 16, the day of disaster at entire Kedar Ghati, the family was at Joshi Mutt near Badri Nath.
The family returned via Nanital covering 200 kilometre more distance to reach their destination. Sharma while narrating his tale said that it was a horrible experience of life for the family as entire administration in Uttarakhand had collapsed.
He said it was only because of their personal efforts that they managed to take the longest route to reach their destination safely.
Besides Sharma, 14 pilgrims from Udhampur also reached their homes safely today. These pilgrims were part of a group of 44 pilgrims who had performed the darshan at Kedarnath on June 14 two days prior to the disaster and had stopped at Badri Vishal due to bad weather where from they went to Pandkeshwar keeping their vehicles at Hanuman Chatti.
The 14 pilgrims who returned safely to Udhampur today included Pardeep Bakshi, Poonam Bakshi, Rishi Kumar, Ritu Khajuria, Parkash Premi, Rishi Khajuria, Sunita, Bansi Lal, Darshansa, Sushma, Poli Devi and Santosh.
The other 30 members of the group are also safe and they are on their way to Jammu, these pilgrims told Excelsior after their return. They said one batch from them might reach here tomorrow.
However, all the pilgrims, who returned here, complained of total collapse of Uttarakhand administration saying that it was only Army and ITBP jawans who rescued the stranded pilgrims otherwise the death toll could have been much more higher.
Alleging that there was no proper information with the Uttarakhand Government, Sharma said that no entry was made anywhere at any police naka of the vehicles carrying pilgrims on Chardham yatra “How the Government could ascertain the number of missing pilgrims or vehicles”? he asked.
Terming the figures given about the dead and missing totally baseless, Sharma said that the death toll could be much higher while the number of four wheelers and two wheelers washed away by floods has not also properly been ascertained by the authorities.
The group of pilgrims from Udhampur said that Uttarakhand Government had totally failed to make arrangements for pilgrims as there was no food, water at Pandukeshwar and when they tried to take refuge in a hotel there the manager charged Rs 2500 per head. Later they decided to stay in the vehicle for the night and ate biscuits which they had brought with them, they added.
They said when they woke up in the morning they were shocked to see that the hotel was washed away in flash floods. These pilgrims said that they stayed for four nights in the vehicle without food and only ate biscuits. They said as roads, bridges, hotels and vehicles have been washed away in flash floods they saw a helicopter of rescue team also crashing.
These pilgrims said that the shopkeepers charged Rs 50 to Rs 80 for one bottle of water. Later the Army and ITBP personnel rescued them after four days and they managed to reach their destination safely.
However there is no clue of three members of Sham Lal Gupta’s family from Sarwal who too had gone to Kedernath for the pilgrimage and had performed darshan on June 15. The last call they made to their family members at Jammu was on June 15 and since then there whereabouts are not known.
Sham Lal with his wife and brother-in-law had left Jammu on June 8 for Kedarnath yatra and had to return on June 20 but on the day of disaster the family had reached Gori Kund. The relatives of Sham Lal are camping at Rishikesh inquiring from the pilgrims who are returning from the Kedar Ghati but till date they could not get any clue of them.
Divisional Commissioner Jammu, Pardeep Gupta today contacted the Divisional Commissioner of Ghadwal Division in Uttarakhand to know about the fate of the pilgrims from J&K who had gone to Chardham yatra in Uttarakhand.
Mr Gupta said that Divisional Commissioner Garhwal Division informed him that they had so far no reports about the pilgrims of J&K who had visited the holy shrines in the State. However whenever any information is received by them the administration will accordingly inform the J&K Government.
The Divisional Commissioner, Garhwal Division also informed that the Uttarakhand Government has established a Control Room at Dehradun with number 0135-2710232 and people can seek information from there. Besides, one control room has been established in Uttarakhand CM’s office having number 0135-2710334.
Mr Gupta gave his personal number to Divisional Commissioner of Garhwal asking him that in case they got any information about any pilgrim from Jammu they should share the same with him.
The Jammu Yatri Bhawan Haridwar also did not have any information about the yatris from J&K who had gone for the Chardham Yatra saying that no one contacted them from the State about their missing relatives so far.
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