Uttarakhand floods: 8,000 pilgrims from Punjab return home

Chandigarh: With the arrival of 500 more pilgrims from Rishikesh to Punjab, 8,000 people were so far evacuated from different parts of Uttarakhand, officials said here on Thursday. Meanwhile, Punjab government intensified its operations to evacuate over 2,500 pilgrims at Badrinath as heavy rains lashing the route halted rescue operations for few hours, they said. Concerned over the forecast of rains, the government today dispatched a special rescue and relief operation team led by Adapa Karthik to Badrinath. According to the team at Badrinath there were more than 2,500 devotees from several states stranded, with over 350 from Punjab. Karthik said over phone that more than 20 state-owned buses were at Rishikesh to ferry stranded pilgrims to their respective destinations in Punjab. PTI