Andhra Pradesh government today said that eight pilgrims from the state were killed in flood-ravaged Uttarakhand out of the total 2624 tourists.
So far, 1500 pilgrims have either returned home or reached the AP Bhavan in New Delhi, a press release from the Chief Minister's Office said this evening.
Another 140 persons were staying in the AP Bhavan. Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, who was on a tour of Visakhapatnam, spoke to his Uttarakhand counterpart Vijay Bahuguna over phone and discussed the rescue and relief operations.
He thanked the Uttarakhand government for extending all possible help to the AP pilgrims.
Kiran also spoke to state Civil Supplies Minister D Sridhar Babu, who has been monitoring the rescue and relief operations in Uttarakhand, and got a status report.
Union Minister of State for Social Justice Balaram Naik, Sridhar Babu and state Disaster Management Commissioner T Radha met Vijay Bahuguna in Dehradun.
The Uttarakhand Chief Minister informed them that a co-ordinated effort with Army, Air Force and other agencies was on in rescue and relief operations, the CMO release added.
Quoting Kiran, the release said funds would not be a constraint for rescue and relief operations and the only objective was to ensure that all stranded pilgrims were brought back home safely.
Medical camps were opened at AP Bhavan to provide medical assistance to pilgrims reaching there from Uttarakhand.
On the other hand, two teams of AP officials from New Delhi reached Dehradun, Haridwar and Rishikesh to receive the stranded pilgrims and provide required assistance in the form of food, medicines and transportation.
Officials were distributing Rs 2000 each to the pilgrims for their return home, the release added.
