30 from Hyderabad city tourists stranded in Himachal

Hyderabad: A group of 30 members from the Hyderabad Adventure Club werestranded at Darcha due to landslides blocking the road in both directions, towards Manali and Baralacha Pass. This group left from Chandigarh on July 6 from Chandigarh by renting motorcycles to embark on a 12-day road trip to Manali-Ladakh.

Speaking to The Hans India, Pranay a member from the group said, “On July 8, the group was divided into two sub-groups while on their way to Sarchu, a hamlet in the Himalayas on the Leh-Manali Highway. The first subgroup was unable to proceed to Sarchu as they wanted to fill fuel and due to heavy rainfall, they were forced to stay at the Darcha check post. The second subgroup was able to reach their first destination but was then stranded there due to landslides.”

There was 1 to 1.5 feet of snow on the ground, and the temperature was between zero and one degree Celsius. We did not have the correct gear because we did not anticipate snow and heavy rainfall before coming here and eventually faced difficulty to moving further, he said.

As the weather conditions continued to get extreme, he turned to Twitter to share his experience and communicate his ordeal to KTR. His tweet went viral and caught the attention of Telangana IT and MA&UD Minister KT Rama Rao, leading to his direct intervention. The Minister promptly instructed the Resident Commissioner’s Office at Telangana Bhavan in New Delhi to extend every possible assistance to the stranded group.

After receiving instructions from KTR on social media, officials from Telangana Bhavan reached out to Pranay and shared their contact details for further coordination and assistance.

“Upon the directions from KTR, Rakshith from Telangana State government provided the information about the routes.

The officials recorded our information and reviewed our trip itinerary. They mentioned that they were actively reaching out to the local administration and working to ascertain the availability of accessible routes. In addition, tourists from AP and Telangana who were stranded in other parts of Himachal were also added to the WhatsApp group created by Telangana Bhavan”, Pranay said.

When approached, Sai Murthy Mallula, co-organiser of Hyderabad Adventure Group, who is present with the team, stated, “Our team is completely safe, and we have received no assistance from either the Himachal Pradesh or Telangana governments. We are entirely self-funded.” However, contradicting this, one of the team members mentioned that the group failed to take sufficient precautions to prevent the situation, despite it being a natural disaster.