'Over 400 stranded vehicle owners and drivers from Pb safe'

Over 400 vehicle owners and drivers from Punjab stranded at Govind Ghat in rain-hit Uttarakhand are safe with steps being taken to sent them back home, a senior official of the Uttarakhand government said today.
Principal Secretary S S Sandhu told PTI over the phone that about 400 vehicle owners and drivers are stranded with their vehicles at Govind Ghat.
"We have been assuring them through our officers to not to worry about their vehicles. It is our responsibility to take care of their vehicles and we will deploy police force for its safety," he said.
Narinderjit Singh Bindra, vice chairman of Shir Hemkunt Sahib Trust (SHSMT), which has been coordinating the rescue work since last Monday, said supplying food and other relief material to stranded pilgrims and drivers regularly was proving to be difficult.

However, their safety was the top priority, he said.
Bindra said members of the trust today met Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna and requested him to provide security to the vehicles so that drivers and owner would move back to their native places.
Bindra said the CM has assured them about it and also told them to convey it to owners/drivers of the vehicles.
Meanwhile, about 1200 pilgrims, who were rescued from Govind Dham and Govind Ghat, were again stranded on way back to Rishikesh from Joshimath following a fresh landslide between Rurdar-Paryag and Srinagar due to heavy rains today.