Uttarakhand survivors from Bangalore recount horror, thank Indo-Tibetan Border Police

A group of people from Chamarajpet in Bangalore who returned to the city on Saturday said that they had a providential escape from the flood-ravaged areas while on their way to Badarinath. Speaking to media persons on their arrival to the city by Karnataka Express, L Veeresh, recalled the situation at the flood-hit areas in Uttarkhand.

"We wanted to halt at Kedarnath on that fateful night but had to cancel it in the last minute. We proceeded and halted at a village near Chamoli. We had no clue about the flurry of the floods. It was our relatives from Bangalore who told us about it. They wanted to know whether we were safe or not,'' recalls Veeresh.

M V Srinivas, another member of the team, said that they were shocked and in dilemma after watching the flood flurry on TV.

"We thanked the almighty for sparing us from the floods and also prayed to God to show us the path to reach Haridwar without any hassles,'' said Srinivas. But the group came down heavily on Uttarakhand state government for not taking precautionary measures to minimise the damage during the floods. They also blamed the state government for not gearing up the state machinery to rescue people.

"We have not received any help from Uttarakhand state government. We had to make arrangements on our own to reach Haridwar and later to Delhi and finally to reach Bangalore,'' said Jogesh Gowda, one of the pilgrims.

However, they did shower praises on the people of Uttarakhand, especially those who maintain eateries, for not cheating them.

"We have to be grateful to a hotel staff at Joyakhandi who not only supplied food at subsidised price but also later allowed us to use their kitchen,'' recalls Bhavani Srinivas, a Bescom employee from Bangalore.

Rukmin, another pilgrim says, "Getting stuck at the land slides is the most dangerous thing. Thankfully we survived". A group of Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) employees, who had been to Lucknow to attend a technical training, recalled how they had cancelled their trip to Haridwar.

"We were in Lucknow to attend the training from June 13 to 15. We wanted to visit Haridwar but cancelled our plan at the last minute... had we go ahead with our plan, we would not have returned to the state alive,'' said M Eswar, a KSRTC employee from Mandya.

Citing her experience she says, "I will never again take a trip there. We were on our own vehicle. But at Kedarnath the problem began when due to land slide an entire rock fell. Thanks to the Indo Tibetian army they did a great job. They demolished the rock. However this process took over three days and till then we were stuck in the hotel and did nothing".

She further added: The major problem we faced was that there was no proper food. There was par boiled rice and not so well cooked curries. 

Rukmini another fellow passenger says, "Getting stuck at the land slides is the most dangerous thing. Thankfully we survived".