Twelve pilgrims from the State, including monks from Sivagiri Mutt near here, have been rescued from flood-ravaged Uttarkhand, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy announced here on Wednesday.
They have been brought to Joshimutt from where they would be taken to Rishikesh by road before being flown to New Delhi, the Chief Minister told newspersons.
Gyanesh Kumar, State’s Resident Commissioner in New Delhi and since despatched to Uttarkhand, was co-ordinating relief and rescue operations for those stranded in Uttarkhand.
K.C. Joseph, Minister for Culture and Non-Resident Keralites’ Welfare, was quoted as saying New Delhi that there was still no information on the eight people who had travelled to Uttarkhand.
All of them went missing from Kedarnath, the Minister said. In all, 27 people, including monks, had been stranded. The State Government was doing its best to bring them back home.
It has now been confirmed that the crash of a rescue helicopter had claimed the life of a member of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police hailing from Kerala. The pilot, who too was killed, belonged to Tamil Nadu.
Meanwhile on Wednesday, a third member of the Chief Minister’s personal staff resigned after his name cropped up in the context of the solar scam. The Chief Minister had removed the first two earlier last week after the Opposition charged that the accused were in constant touch with his staff. The solar scam had forced closure of the Assembly session as a vociferous Opposition stuck to their demand for the Chief Minister’s resignation and had nearly came to blows on successive days last week.
Youth wings of the Opposition parties took protest rallies to the State Secretariat and the Assembly precipitating law and order situation.
It was in this context that the Assembly session was suspended till July 8. Demands for grants were passed through the guillotine route amid vehement protests by the Opposition. In a lighter vein, the Chief Minister informed newspersons on Wednesday that he had acquired a SIM card for a cellular connection but had not identified a handset yet.
He promised them that he would he would update his status to ‘fully connected’ by the time he met with them next.
vinson.kurian@thehindu.co.in