Vizag people stranded in Nepal heave relief as they reach their hometown

Visakhapatnam: A few days of joyous trip to Nepal ended up into a nightmare for those who flew to the destination from Visakhapatnam and other parts of the state. After they reached Nepal, the situation turned out to be entirely different as deadly protests erupted following the government’s announcement of the ban on social media which eventually turned out to be violent.

Recalling his experience, Adimulam Kameswara Rao, a retired deputy chief planning officer and a resident of Dabagardens in Visakhapatnam, said, “We reached Nepal on September 3 for a tour. It was a family trip where my wife and I visited temples like Lumbini, Muktinath temple, among others. But the situation got so scary when we were about to wrap up our trip. We confined ourselves to the hotel room and the protests were so scary to witness.”

Much to the relief of the stranded Telugu people in different parts of Nepal, about 144 of them landed in Visakhapatnam on Thursday evening in a special aircraft arranged by Andhra Pradesh government. Of them, 40 belonged to Tirupati.

Following the protests, most of the Telugu people who landed in Visakhapatnam, said that their movement was restricted as the protests were very violent. “Fortunately, with the support of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, Real Time Governance Minister N. Lokesh, Union Aviation Minister K. Ram Mohan Naidu, Home Minister V. Anitha, Visakhapatnam MP M. Sribharat we could reach our hometown safely,” mentioned V. Prameela, a resident of Madhurawada, who landed in Vizag on Thursday along with others.

A number of them expressed gratitude to the Chief Minister, RTG Minister, Union Aviation Minister and Visakhapatnam MP for responding swiftly to their demands.

The stranded Telugu people were received by district officials and public representatives at the airport. MP M Sribharat, MLC Vepada Chiranjeevi Rao, MLAs Palla Srinivasa Rao, Velagapudi Ramakrishnababu, Ch. Vamsi Krishna Srinivas, P. Vishnu Kumar Raju, Collector MN Harendhira Prasad received the people in the airport.

Arrangements were also made to ensure that those arriving from Kathmandu reached their home from the airport.