Uttarakhand : Tourists trapped in the waves of the lake, there was chaos due to strong storm, the boat driver saved the tourists by risking their lives

Due to the strong storm, there was panic in the boating point located on the lake side of Tehri Dam in Kotikaloni. During this, four tourists trapped in the waves were barely saved by a boat driver risking his life. Due to the storm, the boats have suffered heavy damage due to colliding with each other.

Boat operators said that due to the storm, the engines of about 30 boats were flooded. Due to the strong storm at around 4.30 pm on Tuesday evening, dozens of boats parked at the boating point in Kotikaloni have suffered heavy damage. The storm was so strong that about 105 boats parked there collided, causing heavy damage to the boats due to water filling the engines of more than 30 boats.

Boat union patron Kuldeep Panwar said that due to the strong storm, the engines of several boats parked at the point were sunk and all other boats and jetties also suffered heavy damage.

He told that during this four tourists from Gujarat vikendra Singh, Kamli Devi, Kamal Singh and Sumitra Devi were caught in the strong waves while boating. Seeing the tourists in trouble, boat driver Pawan Deep risked his life and saved them by bringing them to shore.

Panwar, patron of the boat union and Shanti Prasad Bhatt, former district president of Congress, has demanded the Tehri Lake Special Area Tourism Development Authority (TADA) to inspect the spot and pay compensation for the damage. In this regard, Tourism Officer Atul Bhandari said that due to the strong storm, the boats have suffered a lot at the boating point located on the banks of Kotikaloni lake. Soon the damage will be assessed by visiting the spot.

At the same time, the traffic on Ghansali-Tilwara motor road remained closed for about two hours due to the boom of Moolgarh Gadera in Bhilangana block area of ​​Ghansali Tehri. A huge amount of debris from Moolgarh Gadera had accumulated on the road, due to which the pilgrims going on Chardham Yatra had to wait for two hours for the road to open there due to lack of vehicular movement.

After about two hours, after clearing the debris from the JCB, the vehicular movement started. Then the stranded pilgrims moved towards their destination. Pilgrims had to sit inside vehicles there for two hours waiting for the road to open. EE Jagdish Singh Khati of Lonvi Ghansali said that after clearing the debris from JCB, the road has been opened for traffic at 6 pm.

On the other hand, hail fell in many areas in Haridwar amidst half an hour of rain. Trees fell at more than half a dozen places in the urban area due to the storm. Several vehicles were damaged due to the trees being hit. However, there was no casualty. Trees fell on power lines. Due to the break down, there was power failure in many areas from the city to the countryside.