Guwahati, June 24, 2013: Five more pilgrims from Assam were airlifted from a disaster-hit area in Uttarakhand and evacuated to Dehradun by helicopter on Sunday. Till Sunday, 12 of 40 pilgrims from Assam stranded in different locations in the disaster-hit hill State have been airlifted. The Uttarakhand administration communicated this to Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.

An official release quoting Home Secretary G.D. Tripathi stated that of the 40 pilgrims from different parts of Assam, who went to Uttarakhand, six pilgrims have already reached Guwahati. The rest of the pilgrims are safe in Badrinath and Gaurikund. Only one pilgrim from Jorhat, 73-year-old Bhagwani Devi Somani, could not be traced. All the five women pilgrims, who reached Dheradun on Sunday morning, hail from the city’s Rupnagar area.

Promises Rs. 1 crore for Uttarakhand

Mr. Gogoi announced that his government would provide a financial assistance of Rs. 1 crore to the government of Uttarakhand for relief and rehabilitation of flood-hit people. The Ministers, parliamentary secretaries and legislators of the ruling Congress would also donate one month’s salary for the flood-hit people of the State.

Source: The Hindu, DT. June 24, 2013.