Visakhapatnam, June 26, 2013: Right decision at the right time and an alert and gutsy young driver helped them escape from the jaws of death during their trip to Char Dham.

A retired professor from Haryana Agriculture University N.S.R. Sastry and his wife Swarnalatha, and four other relatives returned safely despite the Police Control Room and the local officials’ failure to give them the correct picture on the Himalayan tragedy in Uttarakhand.

Their ordeal commenced a day after their arrival in Haridwar on June 15. The Ganges was in spate even as heavy rains lashed the hilly terrains.

After taking bath on the steps of a ghat of the Ganges and offering prayers at Gangadevi, Bhagirath, and Valmiki temples, they were amazed by the unprecedented rainfall. Their attempts to know about the situation from Ganga Aarti Nirvahana Samiti volunteers proved in vain.

After a halt at Rudraprayag via Rishikesh, they were stopped at Chamoli by the police on June 16. They were told that the road to Badrinath had suffered multiple breaches and advised to park their vehicle on a ground where 500 vehicles were parked amid mud and slush.

“I tried to know about the situation from the Police Control Room but failed. Finally, I got hold of Vyas, an elderly constable. He was kind enough to tell us that the road between Joshimath and Badrinath was totally damaged,” Prof. Sastry told The Hindu on Tuesday.

Recalling their chilling experience, he said their decision not to stay at Chamoli but proceed to Gauchar instead, based on the feedback on devastation caused in the area from TV footage, helped them a lot. They stayed in a hotel at Gauchar, a distance of 20 km.

The village was overcrowded and not a single inch was left, as stranded pilgrims occupied every available space.

Police told them not to go down, as deafening sound of non-stop rain and falling boulders continued.

“We took a spot decision in the evening to travel 65 km extra and go to Kotdwara. That finally proved to be a life-saving decision. One hour after we left Gauchar, the hotel we stayed in and almost the entire village were wiped out in the flash floods,” he said.

The driver provided to them by a Delhi-based tour operator, Pravin Kumar Yadav, 23, whose marriage is scheduled for July 13, was very courageous. He drove the vehicle to Kotdwara, a distance of 90 km in 10 hours, notwithstanding the continuous landslips and gushing water flooding the entire route.

Kotdwara is the entry point to Haridwar hills. At that place, they were told that massive flood was imminent. They were advised to go to Delhi.

“I asked the driver and he readily agreed to take us to Delhi, a distance of 230 km, despite the adverse weather condition,” he narrated. They started their journey to Delhi at 9.30 p.m. and reached at 3.30 a.m. on June 18.

Source: The Hindu, DT. June 26, 2013.