Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Government is planning to hire a helicopter to airlift stranded Char Dham yatra pilgrims from rain-hit Uttarakhand.

Union Minister of State for Social Justice P. Balaram Naik, State Ministers – Danam Nagender and D. Sridhar Babu reached Dehradun on Saturday noon and interacted with the AP pilgrims. Three helpdesks have been set up by the State government to assist the victims being brought from the far-flung areas. The Minister faced a piquant situation in Dehradun when the Uttarakhand administration was unable to provide any information about the missing persons. Adding to their embarrassment, they were denied permission to undertake an aerial survey of the affected areas.

Talking to The Hindu from Dehradun, Mr. Nagender said: “We spoke to Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy and urged him to make arrangements to hire a helicopter to shift the pilgrims to relief centres in Dehradun and Rishikesh. Several women are waiting to be shifted to New Delhi,” he said. He said the Uttarakhand administration was giving first priority to rescuing people stranded in the mountainous terrain but not to search for missing persons.

Mr. Nagender said they had visited a hospital in Dehradun where 15 pilgrims, mostly from Srikakulam and Vizianagaram, were admitted for treatment.

Source: The Hindu, DT. June 23, 2013.