As the days are passing,families of those stranded in Uttarakhand are getting more anxious and are praying for the safe return of their loved ones. With the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP),Indian Air Force (IAF) and Border Roads Organisation undertaking the rescue and relief operations,people are finally returning to the safety of their homes. Mohit Sharma,who was rescued from Kinnaur in Sangla valley,Himachal Pradesh,told Newsline that he had been airlifted and dropped to Rampur. From there he had to take a bus for Chandigarh. He also said that there are around 200 more people are waiting for help. Talking about the difficulties he faced,Sharma said,There was no electricity for the past three days and people had to survive on the stored food left in the hotels. Divendar Sharma who was on his way to Uttarkashi said,Dharasu Band near Uttarkashi,which is extremely vulnerable to bad weather,as told by the locals,saw a long traffic jam with hundreds of cars waiting. We choose to return but had to wait in the night and on the next day. People who choose to move ahead got stuck as conditions got worse after that. He added,One of my friends was stuck at Gauri kund near Kedarnath and had taken shelter in a village. I have not heard from him for the last two days. Mohit Garg whose parents,sister and daughter were part of a 30-member yoga group,had left for Kedarnath on June 7 and got stuck at Kedarnath. He told Newsline that they have finally managed to come out of it and will be reaching Chandigarh soon. Priya Singla,who was part of the same group said,We got to know that there are some alternative routes available. We intended to take the Rudraprayag route via Pauri which bypasses Srinagar,but due to an accident that took place a day earlier we decided to take another route. We were stranded at the Hanuman Chatti at Badrinath and had to live in a bus for two days. It was really bad for the children as we were not getting proper food at regular intervals, said Krishna Goyal,another member of the group. There was an alternate route available from the very first day but people were not aware of it. I got to know about it and suggested my family come via Pauri as it bypasses Srinagar. The Administration should have made greater efforts in order to disseminate information about alternative ways, said Mohit. He added,Another problem faced by the people was of the constant rumours doing the rounds. There was no way to check the authenticity of the news. It took hours for my family to decide on which route to take. My family wanted to come via Yamuna Nagar but they were told by people that the route was closed. So they chose to come via Paonta Sahib. Later they came to know that the Yamuna Nagar route was also open. My father told me that it was only the army which had been rescuing people and the local administration was not providing enough support in the relief work, said Mohit. He added,The worst hit were the people stranded on the roads. My family was on a group tour and had some food and so were able to manage some how but it was really difficult for other people.
