Mumbai:
A group of 22 pilgrims, who were evacuated from rain-ravaged Uttarakhand, arrived in Mumbai late on Sunday evening by an Air India flight. The group included senior citizens and children.
The pilgrims, all of whom hail from Mumbai, were stranded in Uttarakhand for the last six days after the flash floods washed away roads, leaving the hill state cut off.
The Chief Minister of Maharashtra Prithviraj Chavan has been in Delhi to oversee the return of pilgrims who were stranded in Uttarakhand. The state government has hired two helicopters to rescue stranded travellers as well.
One Principal Secretary, one Secretary, one Joint Secretary, 10 Deputy Collectors, four Under-secretary level Officers, 4 RTOs, 4 Naib Tehsildars and five doctors from Maharashtra are positioned in Uttarakhand to help pilgrims from here.
An estimated 2949 tourists from the state were stranded in Uttarakhand. Out of these more than 1608 were sent home by various modes of transport. A group of about 400 pilgrims is expected to board the special train from Haridwar on Sunday night. Most of these pilgrims were stranded at Gauri kund, Badrinath, Sukhitop, Guptakashi, Rambada, Jangalchatti, Gangotri, Jamnotri, Rishikesh and Haridwar.
Mr Chavan attempted to land in Dehradun on Sunday, but his aircraft had to return to New Delhi due to bad weather. He is expected to visit Dehradun on Monday.