Hundred Badrinath pilgrims await evacuation

Rescue operations at Badrinath in flood-ravaged Uttarakhand have not ended yet, as about hundred pilgrims and 200 local people are still to be evacuated, a disaster management official said.

“Still we have 100-odd yatris who need to be evacuated from Badrinath. The yatris have come from Dehradun, Nainital and Pithoragarh, and a lot of them claimed to have come to visit Badrinath,” Vinay Kajla, joint advisor at National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), said.

Besides the yatris, there are about 200 residents of Mana village in Badrinath who are to be evacuated.

“There are about 200 villagers to evacuate from Mana in Badrinath, mostly women and children. The bridge has broken, so we will need to evacuate the yatris and local people today (Wednesday) itself,” Kajla told a news channel here.

The incessant and intense rains that hit Uttarakhand over three days from June 14 triggered flash floods and landslides, leading to hundreds of deaths, and hundreds have since been missing.