Andhra Pradesh pilgrims in Badri airlifted

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Hyderabad: The long wait for about 40 people on the Char Dham pilgrimage from the state, who were stranded in Badrinath for two weeks, finally ended on Sunday.
The pilgrims were airlifted from the holy town to Joshimath from where they were on their way to Dehradun by road. “We’ve arranged flight tickets for them to Hyderabad via Delhi,” said T. Radha, the state government’s disaster management commissioner, who has been camping in Dehradun for the past 10 days.
There are about 40 pilgrims in the last batch while another batch of 40 pilgrims who had already reached Dehradun was sent to Hyderabad on Sunday. “The authorities have declared that the rescue operation in the Char Dham area is almost over,” Radha said.
According to officials, 2,500 AP pilgrims have been rescued and sent back safely home so far. The Uttarakhand government informed state officials that the identity of 25 bodies of Telugu pilgrims was established. The whereabouts of 81 pilgrims are yet to be known.
U’khand CM thanks Kiran for flood assistance
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna thanked Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy for the state’s donation to help the flood victims of Uttarakhand. Bahuguna spoke over phone to the Reddy on Sunday morning.
The state government had announced Rs 50 crore assistance, of which Rs 10 crore would be given to the Uttarakhand government and the remaining would be spent on creating pilgrim amenities in the Char Dham area.
Relief continued to pour in with the AP State Government Retired Employees Association announcing that one day’s pension of all its members would be donated to the PM’s Relief Fund.