Kulbeer Singh, who along with five other members had come to visit Hemkund Shrine, was not in a frame of mind to explain the horrible situation initially, as he wishes to forget what he witnessed.
Talking to The Pioneer, he said, he along with six members from Ambala, Haryana, paid obeisance to Hemkund Sahib on June 16. They were on way back to Ambala. Suddenly he saw that the connecting bridge, which connects Govindghat to Joshimath washed away. He saw that several pilgrims were running fast for their lives. When they realised the grimness of the situation, they ran away, deserting their vehicle back.
Darbara Singh, a resident of Ambala, lost his Pulsar. He said that he had kept his everything under bag which was tied with motorbike that got drowned. He was left with nothing except for the clothes and jacket he was putting on. Suddenly, he saw that Kulbeer Singh belong to his own district so he sought lift and was sitting as second pillion rider of the bike.
He said, “I had reached Dehradun via Pauri route. You can imagine that we left Ambala on Friday and reached Hemkund Sahib on Sunday. But it took three days to reach Dehradun on Thursday 11 am.” He said that initially he could not understand what was happening, but suddenly the idea struck his mind that some terrible thing was taking place and he decide to flee for life.
He also demanded that Char Dham Yatra and Hemkund Sahib Yatra should be managed by the Army on the pattern of Amarnath Yatra because the State Government did not bother to flash the news about the inclement weather or weather department alert. Although he said that he could not speak about death toll, but “its number would be more than your imagination”. Talking about stranded people, he said thousands of people are waiting for help.
“Army keeps the route working and makes foolproof arrangements for yatri’s during the Amarnath yatra. It is fully organised. As recent devastation in uttrakhand has shown how poor arrangements have been made for the yatri’s. Char Dham yatra is done by millions from across the world. The rains have just exposed the poor arrangements of the State Government. Their were no good roads, camps, stay facilities by the State Government, the locals were looting the pilgrims,” said Rajiv Malik from Delhi.
“There is no registration of yatri’s at any place including Haridwar, Rishikesh or at bases of the char dham, Due to non registration, government has failed to provide names other dead during the disaster,” he added.
“We started before the rains, there were no roads for miles. No parking place at along the route of the Char Dhams and no government officials were available. The rates for pony ride and other transport pasted by government at Yamnotri , Kedarnath and Gangotri were being mocked by the facilitators including pony wallahs and others. No medical facility, clear markings, rain shelters, were available for yatris. The Government was charging heavy admnistration fee from yatris at all Dhams ranging from Rs 70 to Rs 250. Ironcially, there were no arrangements,” Sourit Kumar from Kolkata alleged.