611 pilgrims from Bihar stranded in Uttarakhand

A total 611 pilgrims from Bihar are stranded in flood-ravaged Uttarakhand, while 56 others are missing, the Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in disaster management department Bipin Rai said today.
The stranded pilgrims were in Badrinath, Gaurikund, Guptkashi, Rudraprayag, Haridwar and in other mountain terrains in Uttarakhand, Rai said adding efforts were on to bring back these people by train and other means of transport.
The Bihar government has set up a camp office in Dehradun which is being manned by the principal secretary (PHED) Ravindra Parmar, he said.
In addition, the state government has set up a 24x7 control room here to coordinate rescue and relief of the stranded pilgrims of the state. Control room has also been set up at Gaya and district magistrates have been directed to arrange for food and transportation for those people returning from Uttarkhand, he said.

The state government, Rai said, has announced Rs 10 lakh compensation to the kin of those killed in the natural disaster in Uttarakhand. The money would be given to the affected families upon production of certificate issued by the Uttarakhand authorities.
The opposition parties, including the erstwhile ally BJP had mounted a frontal attack on the ruling JD(U) charging it with being insensitive to the plight of the stranded people.
The state government, it alleged, made no serious efforts to bring them back even after two weeks.
Former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi and the LJP supremo Ramvilas Paswan castigated the Nitish Kumar government for leaving the stranded pilgrims in the mercy of nature even as other state governments had helped people from their states to return.