100 tourists from Telangana traced

Hyderabad: Although the evacuation efforts and road reopening works have gained pace, thousands of tourists are still stuck at various places in rain-battered Himachal Pradesh.

With over 850 roads still blocked, a large number of tourists have extended their stay in accommodations where they are residing or waiting for the situation to get better. Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Wednesday called the evacuation of stranded tourists from Chandertal in Lahaul and Spiti a "challenging task." The good news however is that a few tourists from Telangana would be reaching Hyderabad on Thursday.

According to officials of Telangana Bhavan in New Delhi, they have been able to identify and airlift them to Chandigarh. From there they were brought to Delhi by road.

Those evacuated were held up at Kullu-Manali-Kasol belt from July 6. They could be airlifted to Chandigarh as the rains had stopped. Slowly everything is coming to control, officials told Hans India. They said around 100 people belonging to Telangana were identified with the help of local authorities of Himachal Pradesh. The local authorities had taken care of all their requirements like food, accommodation, and medicines.

Since it will not be possible to airlift so many people, we have asked them to wait till the road network is restored, said a senior officer of Telangana Bhavan. On Tuesday, IT Minister K T Rama Rao took to Twitter to share the concern of the state government and the arrangements it was making. Following multiple distress calls from parents, a control room has been set up in the Telangana Bhavan to assist the stranded tourists.