Admn makes arrangement for safe return of Cyclone Fani affected 153 Gujarat pilgrims
| Date :07-May-2019 |
Pilgrims from Gujarat estranged due to Cyclone Fani, at Indoor stadium in capital.Pilgrims returning to Jamnagar by Kaviguru Express.
Staff Reporter;
RAIPUR
In an humanitarian initiative, the Raipur district administration on the behest of state government, made arrangement for the safe return of 153 pilgrims from Gujarat, who had visited Puri in Odisha but were estranged due to Cyclone Fani. On the directive of Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, these pilgrims, who somehow managed to reach Raipur from Odisha, were provided shelter, food and water, medical assistance in the capital and later were sent to Jamnagar, Gujarat in two special coaches attached with 12950 Santraganchi-Porbandar Superfast Kavi Guru Express on Monday afternoon. Another lot of approximately 150 entranded pilgrims from Gujarat are reaching capital Raipur on Monday night and the district administration has also made arrangements for their stay, fooding, medical assistance and subsequently for their safe transit to Gujarat.
On getting information that stranded pilgrims from Gujarat, who were estranged during Cyclone Fani, are reaching the capital, he asked the officials concerned to make necessary arrangements for their temporary stay here and subsequent safe journey to Gujarat. It may be recalled that the Chief Minister had announced Rs 11 crore assistance as relief to Government of Odisha for providing assistance to the people affected due to cyclone Fani. Accordingly, as per the guidelines issued by Collector Dr Basavaraju S, the district administration and Raipur Municipal Corporation team made arrangement for temporary stay of pilgrims in Indoor stadium and provided them with food, water and arranged for other necessary measures along with medial assistance.
The whole relief work was conducted under the supervision of Additional Collector Ashutosh Pandey. Talking to ‘The Hitavada,’ pilgrims Ramnik Bhai Soni and Padmaben Trivedi, both residents of Jamnagar in Gujarat, said a group comprising of approximately 400 pilgrims had visited Puri from Jamnagar for attending a mega Bhagwat Saptah programme. After attending the programme, all of them proceeded to Ganga Sagar via Kolkata, while leaving their baggage in Puri at the hotel, where they had stayed. They had planned to return to Puri on their way back and collect their respective baggage. Unfortunately in the meanwhile Puri got severely affected due to Cyclone Fani. This created impediments for the pilgrims towards returning Puri to collect their baggage.
While describing their plight, both Ramnik Bhai and Padmaben said somehow they managed to reach Puri but were not allowed to enter the township and had to remain 10kms away on highway. Somehow they managed to get to their respective hotels by paying Rs 700-800 per auto-rickshaw and were able to collect their baggage. Thereafter another problem cropped out as to how the group would leave Puri. Somehow they held talks with bus owners and arranged seven buses, who were ready to drop them at Cuttack against a payment of Rs 70,000 (Rs 10,000 per bus). After facing such hardships, a group of 153 pilgrims managed to reach Raipur from Cuttack, while some others are following and some others had made alternative arrangements from there.