Badri yatris return from the brink

It was a return from the brink of life for about 170 pilgrims, who had embarked on a trip to the holy places in Garhwal in Uttarakhand.

As nature unleashed its fury on them, the pilgrims’ progress became impossible, and their only option was to return. But the downpour and landslides that continued for 10 days, made their return trip perilous.

“We saw death from close quarters,” they recalled from the safety of their homes in Bangalore, while thanking providence, Karnataka minister for higher education, VS Acharya, and the Uttarakhand police. They reached the city on Wednesday morning.

A Bangalore-based travel agency had sent the group of yatris (travellers) to Badrinath in Chamoli district on September 16. They reached Haridwar the next day, and soon headed towards Yamunotri and Gangotri. Two days into the trip, the weather changed.

“A landslide had blocked the road towards Yamunotri and Gangotri. But we managed to pass through that road, only to get stuck ahead. We were forced to return to People Mandi,” Chayapathi, a yatri, said.

Incessant downpour greeted the pilgrims at People Mandi. The rains, which lashed Garhwal continuously for three days, bogged them down.

“We contacted home minister VS Acharya who spoke to the inspector-general of police (Garhwal range) MA Ganpathy. The officer then sent us a boat,” Chayapathi added.

Acharya also deputed a former cop-turned BJP worker, Girish Mattannavar, to assist the pilgrims’ return. Mattannavar met the group at the temple city of Hrishikesh, the gateway to the Himalayas, about 25 km from Haridwar.

For almost all yatris, the trip was an experience that would remain etched in their memory for ever. “I have seen visuals of disasters on television. This is the first time I have experienced one. I had lost hopes of coming back,” said HN Rama, a yatri.
He thanked the state government and Uttarakhand police for his safe return.