Report by Badal Tah, Rayagada : After the devoutees namely Basant Kumar Senapati, Soumya Ranjan Patra, K Rabi Kumar and Tukuna Pradhan appealed to rescue them from being stranded after a flash flood due to cloudburst near the Holy Cave Shrine of Amarnath in Jammu & Kashmir, the Rayagada district administration swung into action with immediate effect. Rayagada Collector Swadha Dev Singh, IAS, talked to her counterpart in J&K to do the needful and requested the family members to keep patience and assured them that all necessary arrangements had been made to bring them back safe. She also talked to the stranded devoutees and requested them to remain calm and in good spirits.
The said devoutees, after the darshan of the deity, were camping and taking rest at foot hills when the cloudburst triggered a flash flood. This swept away all their belongings including cash & the tent where they were camping. Fortunately they were able to run towards a highland and could save their lives, but were stranded as the there was torrential flow of water around them. Without footwear and with torn plastic bottles, they had to walk almost barefoot throughout the night from Panchtarni to Baltal on a snowy path. Cash crunch led to travel with hunger.
After the intervention of Rayagada district administration, these devoutees got rescued by CRPF and ITBP personnel and safely transported to Jammu on last Sunday. They are now on their way to Rayagada via New Delhi. The swift action by the district administration has been applauded by members of Rayagada District Citizens’ Council & Media Cares.
Comments are closed.