About 4,000 pilgrims who were stranded following landslips near Uttarkashi in Uttarakhand were rescued after the district machinery swung into action on Wednesday.
Road cleared
According to Radhakrishnan Swami of New Delhi, who led some Canadian nationals and others on a pilgrimage to Yamunotri, a rescue team comprising senior government officials reached the spot around 10 a.m. and cleared the road.
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“Bulldozers and lorries were used to remove the debris on the road. Hundreds of vehicles that were held up since Sunday have started moving. We have reached Uttarkashi. People are still moving from the area,” he told The Hindu on the phone.
SOS forwarded
The former Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation, D.R. Kaarthikeyan, who forwarded an SOS from the stranded pilgrims to the Prime Minister on Tuesday, said an official from the National Disaster Management Authority called and assured him that necessary steps would be taken to rescue the pilgrims.
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