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Journalism of Courage
After nearly 500 pilgrims travelling to Kedarnath were stranded in Uttarakhand following Wednesday’s cloudburst, several devotees from Pune cancelled their trips to the state.
Dinesh Lande, a resident of Kasarwadi, said their group of 109 was to proceed to Kedarnath from Pune on a 15-day trip on August 2.
“After we heard the news of the cloudburst, we cancelled our trip. The travel firm also called to inform us that the trip has been cancelled. We now might go in October,” he said. Most members of the group are from Pimpri-Chinchwad.
When asked why they planned to go to Kedarnath during the monsoon, Lande said, “Citizens have an attraction for the Kedarnath Yatra. Even otherwise, cloudbursts don’t happen every year. The last time it happened was in 2013.”
Aryan Palaskar, an engineering student, said, “I cancelled the trip because I knew it rains heavily during the monsoon in North India. My family had decided to go but the cloudbursts happened a day before they were to leave. They have now cancelled their trip.”
Even the families of those who went to Amarnath in Jammu and Kashmir are worried. “As soon as I learnt about the Uttarakhand tragedy, I immediately called my wife. Their group of 150 from Pimpri-Chinchwad left recently. They have reached MP. So far, there is no problem… I will keep calling up my wife to find out whether they are safe,” Manoj Borse said.
Borse added several tours and travel companies in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad organise such trips every year in monsoon. “This should be avoided,” he said.
Meanwhile, around 200 stranded pilgrims have been rescued in Uttarakhand. The remaining tourists are safe and they will be rescued soon, said the local administration.
