Kolkata: Scores of tourists from different parts of Bengal who had gone on pilgrimage to Amarnath appealed to the state government to take measures for their safe and early return, many also shared videos as they remained stranded — following flash floods in South Kashmir Himalay— at different locations on Sunday.
However, there was no official confirmation about the exact number of tourists stranded till this newspaper went to print. The state government had on Saturday opened a control room in Nabanna (033-22143526), activated Delhi RC (Resident Commissioner) office, and connected J&K government for rescue of the pilgrims. The Chief Minister had also assured of all help to the affected families.
Sharing video messages on social media the stranded pilgrims appealed to the state administration to take up the matter with their counterparts in Jammu and Kashmir so that they can safely return to their residences. The videos were, however, not verified by Millennium Post.
Srabanti Roy of Bally in Howrah is stranded with several Bengal tourists in the Pulwama area. The video shared by her showed a queue of vehicles stuck on the road. She had claimed that several tourists from districts like Howrah, North 24-Parganas, Hooghly and Nadia are stuck on the road and are not being allowed to make a further movement.
She has appealed to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to make arrangements for their return.
A team of some 80-odd travellers from the Kolkata Leather Complex police station area are presently lodged at tents set up at Pahelgaon.
Prabir Karmakar a cop hailing from Takdaha area shared a video and informed that though they are safe but are worried about when they will be able to return.
"Helicopters are carrying out rescue operations and the injured persons are being transferred to hospitals. The weather is cold and we are praying for our safe return," Karmakar said. Most of the team members have lost their belongings and are not able to return as the horses' owners are allegedly charging Rs 7,000 each to travel to the plains.
Rajib Halder who had gone with a team of 10 members from Barasat in North 24-Parganas has sustained leg injuries and is presently undergoing treatment at a hospital in Srinagar.
Another 8 tourists who had gone from Mahisadal and Tamluk in East Midnapore are presently staying at a hotel in Jammu. They were about to start their journey on the very day when the disaster took place.
A couple from Tollygunge in South Kolkata, Kaushik Karmakar and his wife Jhelum had a lucky escape being able to come down safely to the plains after completing their Amarnath darshan, just a few hours before the disaster struck.
"It was raining incessantly and we had to stop at several points as two-way movement (ascending and descending) was not possible because of the hostile road conditions," Kaushik said.
A team of Ham Radio operators from Delhi, Kolkata and some other places have started working from Saturday providing medicine as well as communication support to the administration.
The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) troops, 3 National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) are still carrying out the rescue operations.
Meanwhile, about seven pilgrims from Balurghat and its adjacent areas were safe, stated sources from South Dinajpur district administration.
Subhranil Munshi, Pushpajit Chakraborty, Rajat Sarkar, Toton Haldar, Suranjan Dey Das, Tapas Ghosh and Mukul Sarkar had gone on Amarnath yatra.
"All the seven devotees from Balurghat block are safe and have taken shelter at a military camp. They will leave the camp soon," said sources.