About 2,500 pilgrims from Andhra stranded in Uttarakhand

As many as 2,425 pilgrims from Andhra Pradesh are stranded in various places of rain-ravaged Uttarakhand, state officials said in Hyderabad.

AP disaster management commissioner said a control room has been opened at the Andhra Pradesh Bhavan in Delhi. The telephone numbers are: 011-23384188, 011-23782644, 011-23382031.

A helpline has been set up in Uttarakhand at 0135-2714334 /2714335.

Two teams of officials from the Andhra Pradesh Bhavan are in Dehradun. The Resident Commissioner of Andhra Pradesh Bhavan is also facilitating the movement of stranded pilgrims to Delhi, an official release said.

Pilgrims arriving from the hill state in Delhi would get accommodation, food, medicines and transport facilities at the Andhra Pradesh Bhavan.

A total of 195 pilgrims have been sent back from Haridwar to Delhi. Another 500 pilgrims are expected to reach Delhi by morning on Friday.

The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam has been requested to provide accommodation to the pilgrims at their ashram in Rishikesh, the release added.

Meanwhile, 55 pilgrims, who went from Jharkhand to for Kedarnath and Badrinath Yatra, are all reportedly safe and lodged in a hotel in Janktichatti in Uttarkashi.

A team of 55 people, including ten priests of RadhaGovindTemple in Sakchi in Ranchi, had left for the pilgrimage of four dhams -- Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath on June 11.

They were lodged in a hotel following the cloudburst and floods that had struck part of Uttarakhand on June 15.

Deputy Commissioner of East Singhbhum Amitabh Kaushal said Congress MLA Banna Gupta has provided a list of pilgrims from Jamshedpur who were reportedly stranded after the situation turned bad following the cloudburst and floods.

With the road communication between Uttarkashi and Guptakashi restored in rain-devastated Uttarakhand, many stranded tourists and pilgrims from West Bengal have been able to make way for Haridwar, a state minister said on Thursday.

"It is expected that the stranded tourists and pilgrims will reach Rishikesh late this evening," disaster management minister Javed Ahmed Khan said in Kolkata.

Khan said the state government had contacted officials of the local administration at Rishikesh to provide transit arrangement and buses to people moving from Rishikesh to Haridwar for onward rail journey to Bengal.

Bengal transport minister Madan Mitra and planning minister Rachpal Singh would go to Tehri today after meeting Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna and the disaster management minister there.

Khan said that Rs 20 lakh had already been sanctioned by the state government to rescue the stranded tourists and pilgrims from the state.

The railways have assured them to provide seats on a priority basis pending additional coaches, he said.