Helpless relatives to launch protest today

More than 25 agitated family members gathered at Pune collector office on Sunday to launch a protest against what they called the local administration’s failure to go to the aid of people from Pune stranded in Uttarakhand for the last nine days.

Tense family members claimed that despite repeated pleas, the local government did not act and so the protest, which they said will start in earnest from Monday and continue till all the 71 stranded pilgrims are brought home safe and sound.

Narendra Dixit, said,  “On June 15, my uncle and aunt had called and said that they are going to Kedarnath. Since then I have not heard from them nor could I get across to them. And all we get are assurances from the administration. No one is ready to take responsibility.”  He said one of the pilgrims, Vimal Ghule, 52, has a broken spinal cord and is unable to move. Another, Janabai Gadge, has been unconscious since Saturday night with no medical aid. He said medical camps are running out of medicines. “We want the local administration to get these people back home at the earliest,” he said. Emotional relatives said they have been trying to call the Mumbai helpline number but that there’s been response; no one answers calls, and even if it’s answered all they get to hear is “it’s a wrong number” before the call is cut.

Speaking to dna, SS Potale said, “Even after requesting Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule there has been no response. All we get is the standard response that they were working on it.”