PATNA, June 23, 2013: The leader of opposition in the legislative council, Sushil Kumar Modi, said here on Saturday that more than 1,000 pilgrims from Bihar were still trapped in Uttarakhand, requiring urgent rescue operations by the state governments of both Uttarakhand and Bihar.

Modi, who was accompanied by leader of opposition in the state assembly Nand Kishore Yadav, demanded special trains from Haridwar to Patna to bring back the rescued Bihari pilgrims. He said it was incumbent on the Uttarakhand government to run special buses to ferry the Bihari pilgrims to their state. Besides, Bihar government should immediately hire a helicopter to bring back the rescued pilgrims, because the weather condition was good, Modi added.

Modi returned from Delhi after a meeting with former health minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey, who is recuperating in a hospital there. The bodies of Choubey's 'sadhu (brother-in-law)' and his 'sali (sister-in-law)' were still lying at Kedarnath, he said.

No arrangement has been made by the Bihar government to claim the bodies of victim Biharis, so that they could be brought back home, Modi said. The situation is likely to worsen as the weather condition would worsen in the next couple of days.

Modi said that in charge of the party's Uttarakhand affairs, Radha Mohan Singh, along with the local BJP rank and file, was engaged in massive rescue and relief operations. The unfortunate pilgrims trapped there needed relief and medical camps in a large number, so that their immediate dietary and health needs could be attended to. According to him, for four days, people had no food and water, and, therefore, there was immediate need to set up medical camps to address their health concerns.

No garlands at BJP meet

State BJP chief Mangal Pandey said that on the direction of party president Rajnath Singh, leaders participating in the BJP workers' meet being held at Gardanibagh stadium on Sunday would not be garlanded as a token of grief and sorrow over the Uttarakhand tragedy.

Pandey said around 13,000 workers would turn up to participate in the meet. Following the NDA's split in Bihar, a large number of party workers are expected to turn up at the meet.

State BJP vice-president and spokesman Sanjay Mayukh said the meet had become doubly important because the BJP national president would throw light on the role of the party in the changed political situation in the state.

Sources: The Times of India, DT. June 23, 2013.