Rescued tourists return to city, get rousing welcome

As the train carrying stranded tourists from Uttarakhand reached Pune railway station on Saturday evening, relatives and family members heaved a great sigh of relief. The pilgrims returning from the flood-affected Uttarakhand were brought home in a special bogie of the Goa Express running between Hazrat-Nizamuddin-Hubli.
Kshitij Shinde burst into tears on meeting his mother Suganda Shinde, who arrived on Saturday. His six-year-old daughter Anushka waited with roses to welcome her grandmother.
“The journey has been testing and most difficult one. We have suffered enough and were stuck for over 24 hours between Garhwal and Haridwar. I am just grateful to god for having granted us this second life.” Suganda Shinde said.
Another tourist Suman Gawade from Manchar recoiled at the sight of dead bodies she saw lying along the river banks.
“The destruction was unimaginable. All the roads had collapsed, we walked on cliffs balancing ourselves for several hours. I cannot remember how many hours we walked before reaching a village where locals helped us,” she said.
Tourist Sanjeevani Pople from Alandi who was traveling in a mini bus said the drive was extremely scary. “Looking at the valley below with the river flowing dangerously left us in a tizzy state. It’s difficult to express in words about the near-death experience.”
Pople and her group were seated in the bus for over 30 hours, without food or water and could get help only at Garhwal, where they were fed biscuits and offered water.
“That is the only food we ate in two days. The elderly members in our group were finding it extremely difficult to cope with this. We were afraid of what would happen next,” she said.
However the tourists said their ordeal came to an end after reaching the Maharashtra Sadan at New Delhi.
“Here we ate proper food after days, had a decent place to sleep and basics like toilet facilities were available. We were even given Rs 2000 each as pocket money. They made arrangements for our return and we cannot thank them enough,” added Gawade.