Lucknow, June 19: The rushing water soon turned into a turbulent river. Then the roadside hotel room started to drift, wobbling like an unhinged wagon. Minutes later it had disappeared under a heaving mass of slush and debris. Tales of "apocalyptic horror" poured out today after rescuers evacuated hundreds of pilgrims trapped in Kedarnath or on the way to the 11,000ft Uttarakhand shrine since Monday, drenched to the bone after three days of incessant rain. But the "tandav", as one pilgrim described the elemental mayhem, appeared to have spared the temple to Shiva. "The Kedarnath shrine is safe but it is under a lot of slush," chief minister Vijay Bahuguna told PTI after a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who announced Rs 1,000 crore as aid for relief and rescue operations. An official release from the Uttarakhand government said 271 pilgrims had been rescued from Kedar valley and many had been put up in shelters in Dehradun and Hardwar. Among them was a devotee from Bengal, Saumendu Das. The most vivid account came from Das's fellow traveller Narendra Kumar Agarwal. "We waited at a roadside hotel. Outside, the rain pounded down and the rushing water soon turned into a turbulent river. Suddenly our room, on the bank of the Mandakini, began to move like a train coach. Many of us jumped out. As we stood in the open, the room floated on the water… soon it disappeared," the 51-year-old from Chhattisgarh said. Agarwal was among the 271 who were airlifted from Kedarnath. The state's home secretary said at least 150 people had been killed in flash floods and rain-triggered landslides since the skies burst open on Saturday. Witnesses said over 500 pilgrims were still missing. Jagjivan Prasad, one of the rescued devotees, said at least 1,500 people were in Kedar valley for an early darshan on the morning of June 15. None could reach the temple and many got washed away, he said. "It was like a tandav. God was not listening to us. He seemed to be busy destroying the powers of evil." Roshan Trivedi, 32, who was rescued yesterday from the temple compound, said he had never seen such devastation in his 12 years as a priest. "I took shelter in a tea shop… the shop was washed away." Garhwal commissioner Suvardhan Kumar said the temple gates were open when the deluge started. "The flood of water and slush surged in. We will, of course, know (the situation) better when the debris is cleared," he said in Dehradun. Das, from Durgapur, Bengal, said: "I stood in the rain for more than 10 hours along with five others when the army rescue team spotted us this morning. I have no idea where the others are now." The government release said of the 62,790 pilgrims stranded at different points, only 19,724 could be brought to safety since yesterday. The Centre today cancelled batches 2 to 10 of this year's 18-batch Kailash Mansarovar Yatra as the rain in Uttarakhand had damaged the route. "The state and local administrative authorities estimate that the restoration work may take up to one month to complete," the foreign ministry, which organises the June 9-September 9 trek that continues 243km inside Chinese territory, said in a statement. Chief minister Bahuguna, who visited Kedar valley today, faced demonstrations by pilgrims and residents complaining about lack of relief. "The tragedy is enormous," he said. "Have patience." Seven kilometres from the temple, Ram Bada used to be a busy stopover point of shops and hotels. "It has been wiped out," said Rudraprayag district magistrate B.K. Dhondiyal.  via Science - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNEPVH5FvzhdH7kEwQ6P8XfVBryTiw&url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130620/jsp/nation/story_17028047.jsp | |||
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