Sikkim tourists recount Kedarnath trip - Pilgrimage aborted after flood, group of 40 spends night in bus

Gangtok, June 20: Around 20 pilgrims from Sikkim, who were part of a 40-member group from north Bengal, had to cancel their Kedarnath trip midway because of flash flood and multiple landslides across Uttarakhand. The pilgrims reached Haridwar this afternoon and spoke to The Telegraph over the phone recounting their experience. “We started from Siliguri on June 4 and our plan was to visit Bodhgaya, Kashi, Ayodha, Haridwar, Yamunotri, Gangotri and Kedarnath. We started from Haridwar on June 14 to go to Kedarnath. We were singing bhajans on the way not knowing what was in store for us,” said Sikkim resident Khakra Bahadhur Upreti. The trip was organised by Siliguri-based Across Tours and Travels and around 40 people from Sikkim, Kalimpong, Darjeeling and Siliguri, all aged between 45 and 75 years, were in the group. “When we reached Chamoli, 25km from Kedarnath, it started raining heavily. I have never seen such heavy rain. our guide told us to stay inside the bus because landslides on the Haridwar-Kedarnath route had blocked the road,” said 63-year-old Upreti, a resident of Lingdok village in East Sikkim. According to him, of the 20 Sikkim residents, 12 were from Lingdok, four from Pakyong and four from Rongli subdivision in the East district. “The rain was so heavy that we could hardly hear each other in the bus. We cooked rice, dal and pumpkin curry on the bus. The food items were brought by the travel agency people. After spending a sleepless night in the bus we started walking to Chamoli. After a 7km-long trek, we reached the town and somehow got few rooms at a hotel in Chamoli Market. The rain had stopped by then,” said Surya Mandan Chettri, 55. At least five people had to share a room meant for two. “There was no electricity and we could not charge our mobilephones or watch the news. Our guide requested the hotel owner to provide us with a space to cook. Luckily, there was firewood and the water supply was not affected. We stayed in the hotel for four days. We called up our relatives from the hotel landphones and sometimes from the local police station,” he said. The group headed back to Haridwar yesterday. “We reached Haridwar this afternoon,” said tour operator Manorath Adhikari. He added that they would take a bus to Dehradun on Friday and from there, another bus to Delhi. The team will board a train from Delhi to Siliguri. They are likely to reach Siliguri by Tuesday. Sikkim’s information and public relations department secretary, D. Anandan, today said: “A list of stranded tourists from Sikkim has been faxed to the chief secretary of Uttarakhand. We are yet to get a response.”